A stitch a day keeps the boredom away. Step up your embroidery game with an embroidery machine. Embroidery machines open up a whole new world of possibilities beyond hand-embroidering designs. Many embroidery machines are computerized and use an LCD screen for stitch and design selection, so you can personalize textiles with the click of a button. With such a range of machines available, it’s important you know what you’re getting before you choose. Browse our selection of the best options below.
1. Brother PE535 Embroidery Machine
Offering great performance at a great price, this reliable machine is ideal for small projects. It features a 4-by-4-inch stitching area that is enclosed by a hoop to isolate your work and help you better visualize the end product. The 80 built-in designs gives you an excellent library to work with, and the USB port lets you upload and add more designs to its built-in memory. Other perks include an automatic needle threader, a good-sized and responsive LCD color touchscreen, and nine lettering fonts. Resistant to skipping and intuitive to operate, this machine is a winner for beginners and pros alike.
2. Singer Legacy SE300 Embroidery Machine
Singer’s machine, which can also be used as a regular sewing machine. It features a sewing field that measures 10 ¼ by 6 inches and can sew 700 embroidery stitches a minute. It does come with an impressive 200 embroidery designs, but you can view these only by downloading them onto a PC (Mac users, beware!). We also find that it has more of a tendency to jam than our top pick, but this will likely occur less as you familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of this machine. It comes with an automatic needle threader and two embroidery hoops in different sizes, and offers 250 built-in stitches including basic, stretch, decorative, and buttonhole.
3. Brother SE1900 Sewing and Embroidery Machine
Another combination machine, this offering from Brother excels both at sewing and at embroidery. It features a large LCD touchscreen and a 5-by-7-inch embroidery area as well as 138 built-in designs. It runs quietly, sews steadily, and is easy to program. As a bonus, this machine comes with 10 built-in styles of one-step buttonholes, and you can even create your own custom stitches and save them to the machine’s memory. With free-motion sewing and quilting via the drop-feed feature, this machine does it all. An automatic needle threader and LED light round out the specialty features, and the machine comes with an array of necessary sewing accessories.
4. Uten Portable Embroidery Sewing Machine
If you’re just coming to embroidery and aren’t sure if you are ready to invest in a top-notch machine, Uten’s model might be the right pick for you. It is relatively cheap for an embroidery machine and is also portable, making it easy to carry with you if you are taking a class. While you cannot load embroidery files into it, as it does not have a USB drive, it is very easy to use for free-motion embroidery and can also sew 100 letter stitches. The machine is stable and the needle doesn’t skip, moving smoothly and with precision. Like other options on our list, it has an automatic needle threader to get you started quickly.