About an hour ago I got to play around with my Brother SE400′s embroidery function. The sewing machine arrived on Monday.

Brother SE400 Sewing & Embroidery Machine

I unpacked it the same day it arrived, just to see if I received all the parts, but I didn’t actually test it out until yesterday and then I only tested the sewing function. I won’t be using this for sewing, I purchased this machine solely for it’s embroidery feature. Today, I had a little time and so I finally tested out the embroidery feature. I stuck with simple designs and did them all on ‘scrap material’.

Cute designs embroidered with my Brother SE400

In hindsight, I should swapped out embroidery threads, especially for the kitty so you could see the contrast (and it’s eyes) but I was basically just checking out how it embroiders. The SE400 stops sewing so you can swap out the embroidery thread for another color. I didn’t swap, I just started it again to keep the machine sewing with the same color.

I’m really loving this embroidery thread.

Also I should have used plain fabric but I told my daughter to grab some scrap fabric and she choose this. Currently I’m a newbie with machine embroidery… and it’s a strange feeling… I’ve been sewing for over 30 years, hand embroidery for almost as long, but this is my first time embroidering with an embroidery machine.

Wrong side of machine embroidery. I took this picture before I snipped the loose threads and removed the stabilizer – shiny clear stuff you see. Stabilizer is needed for machine embroidery.

Naturally you’ll need to use stabilizer on the back of your fabric… depending on the fabric you choose you might have to add a lightweight stabilizer to the front of the fabric also. The embroidery function is so easy, choose the design you like unplug the foot pedal and the machine does everything for you.

Once I become familiar with the Brother SE400′s embroidery function, I’ll start doing more elaborate designs. My initial reaction is that I like the machine. It’s runs quiet, and I love the hands off embroidery features… the self threading feature along with the automatic thread cutting are nice bonuses also.

In other news….

Of course I’m still knitting. Currently, I’m working on a pair of mittens for myself and I’m knitting the mittens two at a time!

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