When I got my Brother SE400, it had so many functions and features that I was a little bit overwhelmed. So I wanted to start with the easiest, simplest possible thing just to try out the embroidery.
I decided to start with one of the built-in designs – the large, fancy initial “A”. A for Audrey, the name of my baby grandniece. I choose the easiest fabric I could think of – a medium weight, cotton twill – that would be easy to hoop, not too heavy and not stretchy. I used Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer, cut-away lightweight stabilizer behind the fabric and hooped both of them.
This video of that first embroidery shows how to select the pattern and stitch it out. The embroidery came out very well. But there’s a lot more to learn.
This is also my first video about my new Brother SE400 Sewing and Embroidery machine. I shot it with my iPhone 4s and edited it with iMovie on the iMac. Amazing how good the iPhone camera is now.
I hope you enjoy it.
Hi,
Can this machine embroider dog collars, nylon strap webbing? I just want to put my dog’s name and phone number on a collar. Thanks.
Did you get a reply to this, or did you just go ahead with the project? I have been wanting to do the same.
Am shifting from USA to India, recently brought SE 400,
what’s the power adapter I have to purchase in India
What watts I have to use,
in India they ask for what wattage step down transformers
On the machine it is mentioned 110v, 60hz, .67A
a little overwhelmed with my se 400 machine… I got it to embroidery fine with the white thread that came with the machine that looks like normal spool of thread but when I put the different shaped spools on the machine it seems to ball up… any suggestions.
Hi Neida, I’m not clear about exactly what you’re doing, but here are some thoughts. The white thread that came with the machine is embroidery bobbin thread. You only use it in the bobbin for embroidery. It’s a lighter weight than normal thread. The machine should have also come with a bobbin pre-wound with embroidery bobbin thread, so you can use that to get started. For the top, you need to use embroidery thread which it sounds like you’re doing because of the different shapes. Do you mean it’s balling up at the top around the spool? Are you using the right size spool cap? And it is threaded correctly? presser foot up and going through all the tension disks? You may need to use a spool net, although I’ve never had to. (nets and caps are included with the machine) Hope this helps.
I downloaded a PES file with 50 different fonts. I went to use one of them today and realized that I may have to move each letter individually to the removable disk in order to spell something out to embroider, Is there a simpler way of doing this? I am trying to make a quilt label and wanted smaller letters than the letters built into the machine. thank you
Hi Pat,
Stitching the letters individually for a quilt label will be very difficult and tedious. You need embroidery editing software to merge the letters to create the label. Then you save the design as one PES file, move it to removable disk and stitch. There are many choices for software and no “best” one. I use Embrilliance because it runs on my Mac (PC too). Many people like Embird or Sew What Pro. They all have free trials so you can see which you like before buying.
Have another question for you. Just want you to understand my machine telling me that patterns are too big for frame when I know they are not. I can go into the preinstalled fonts on machine and just choose the letter A of any font style. I got to the layout and choose size use the buttons to change the size of the font. I choose to enlarge the font. The highest I can get the font is 1.97 x 2.13. I want 3inch or 3 1/2 inch size letters to monogram towel. Can’t get letters (a single letter) to get past 1.97. Is my machine broken or am I doing something wrong. In my mind 3.93 x 3.93 is the amount of space that I have to work with whether it is one letter or more. Help me. Christmas around corner and have so many projects. thanks for your help.
Hi Kelly, yes, that’s what I get too. I think it’s because you can’t just scale a design that much and have it look nice because a letter three times as large would require a different stitch density and maybe other things. To do what you want, you need to buy a alphabet design set or find one free. Each letter will be an embroidery file that you can import into SE400 for stitching. Good luck with your projects.
I am new to SE400. I am trying to monogram company name. It is 9 characters long. Using built in fonts. Letters 3/4″ or less high. I am trying to duplicate some shirts that my husband had done by another company. I know the name fits within the 4×4 area. I laid the graph sheet that came with system over his shirt to make sure the sizes would fit on the 4×4 area and it does. When I go to enter this in machine it tells me that it is too big for the area. I know that it is not. I don’t know what I am doing wrong. I have to treat it as 2 jobs. very frustrating. Have done nothing but practice until I get it to work. Also, I know that the “_” is for a blank space but it is really a big gap between the space and the letters around it. Is that normal? Please help. Love your site!!!
Before you select the letters, did you select the small size? At the bottom where you select capital or lower case letters, there is LMS. It defaults to L and if you key in the letters with “L” it will be too large before you have a chance to adjust the size. Or try “M” if that’s closer to your size. Yes, I think the space is too large too. For what you’re trying to do, you may have to move past the built-in fonts. I really don’t use them because they aren’t my style and I like more control over the size and spacing. You would need to buy alphabet designs and would would need embroidery editing software to put the letters together. There are many options, mostly a matter of personal preference. They have free 30-day trials so you can see what you like before buying. Unfortunately, it’s another learning curve this close to Christmas projects.
Hi !! I purchased the SE400 last month. I tried installing the embroidery unit and foot for the first time last night. I didn’t try embroidering because I didn’t have any stabilizer. So I set the machine back up for regular sewing. Now when I do the decorative stitches it skips stitches and doesn’t sew straight on the straight stitch. Any suggestions??? I hate to have to send it back. Really loved it at first!!
So it worked well, until you changed to embroidery and back again. It’s hard to say from a distance, but I would guess it’s something to do with that. Are you sure the pressor foot is installed correctly? Are you using a regular sewing needle and not an embroidery needle? They are different. Is it installed correctly? Check threading and bobbin installation. Good luck tracking it down.
I bought a brother se400 off of Amazon and I am new at this, I tried to download frr designs from embrodierydesigns.com and it downloaded them into my machine but when I press the computer key to pull it up it doesn’t do anything, I read the reviews and thought I did it right, I put pes and pressed download and tried to put it to removable disk f but I am doing something wrong can you please help. Sincerely Sheila
Hi Sheila, Is the design smaller than 3.9 x 3.9 inches? That’s usually the reason. Have you seen my tutorial about downloading?
Hi! Can you walk me through embroidering a three letter monogram, middle letter being biggest? i cant figure it out after so many attempts. P.S. Love you site!
Hi Andrea, the best, easiest way is to put the three letters together from an alphabet monogram font using embroidery software. But of course, this costs some money. Both Embird and SoWhatPro have free trials, if you want to try it. If you want to use the built-in fonts, you have to stitch each letter separately because the SE400 cannot size individual letters in a “word.” See page 146 in the manual for instructions on how to connect the letters and get them lined up.
I am new to this machine, but am LOVING every minute of it. My question is this, I was in the middle of an applique and my thread broke. How do I go back and fill in the missed stitches?
Hi Nicole, Have a look at page 148 of the manual about moving the needle back.