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.
I wanted to monogram with an initial on a towel. The maximum size I could go to was 5 x 4.5 mm. How do I get it to 5 in? I have the med. hoop the machine came with.
Hi Mary, I’m not sure if you’re asking about mm or in. You can’t scale the built-in letters to the maximum size. I guess that’s because scaling is difficult and Brother just choose a medium size. You can buy letter fonts and scale them with software. However the maximum size is about 3.9×3.9 inches. It does not depend on the hoop. This is a physical limitation of the SE400 embroidery unit. The only option for larger designs is to split it with software. However, everything I’ve read says it’s very difficult to get the pieces lined up and stitched so it looks seamless, so I’ve never tried it.
I bought a used Brother SE 400 from a lady who had not actually used it. Its my first embroidery machine. I did fairly well figuring out how to get started, and am working on my first “trial” pattern when the bobbin thread ran out. Since I have to take everything apart to refill it, how will that effect the piece in progress? Will it go back to where it left off? Thanks for any help on this.
Hello! I am a new user and am anxious to get started to sew. I am hopeful that you may be able to help me. I am looking for an inexpensive yet good program to use to digitize images to embroider or make my own patterns. Would you have any suggestions or recommendations for me? I have tried the Sew Art demo program but have had mixed results. A friend recommended the Stitch Era universal program but every time I go there my McAffee won’t allow me in. I also have looked at PE- Design 8 demo but I am unable to save my files to a PES file. So, I am need of some guidance and as a newcomer I would welcome any help or advice. Thank you Janice
Hi Janice, I haven’t tried digitizing yet. The only other program I’ve heard people like is Embird. You would need the basic program and the add-on modules for digitizing photos and creating your own designs.
I am looking to get a machine to do monogramming on towels, pillows, shirts, etc. I am just starting out, and I don’t even know where to begin. I want to be able to hook up to my computer and monogram on my project. Also I need to know do I need to purchase software. I don’t want to spend extra money or purchase a machine that doesn’t do what I am looking for.
Thanking you in advance……
Hi Rhonda, There are so many choices depending on your situation. The SE400 will do monograms. You will need software to put the letters together. Have a look at my article on monogramming.
The machines that I’m familiar with do not need to hook to your computer to stitch a project. The SE400 does hook to the computer to transfer addition designs. You don’t need attentional software for that. The PE770 transfers designs via a USB thumb drive. Either way works well. But be sure the machine has some sort of USB port for transferring designs, so you don’t have to rely on memory cards.
Begin with your budget. If you want a high-end machine, go to your dealer and try them out. This didn’t work for me because my dealer only had machines more than $1000 which was way out of my price range. I got the SE400 because it offered the most value for my budget.
Then think hard about how big you want the monograms to be. The SE400 cannot stitch larger than 3.9 x 3.9 inches. Draw a square that big and put it on your towels, pillows, etc. If you want a large, fancy monogram in the center of pillow, I don’t think the SE400 is big enough. The maximum size is, of course, a tradeoff with the cost. Have a look at my SE400 review and the other posts in the review section for other considerations.
I have a brother innovis 1200. After I buy an alphabet online and download it on my computer where do I produce a label etc using these fonts in order to send them to my machine?
I use a program called embird where you can adjust the size of your project to fit your hoop.
Hi Denise, I don’t know anything about the innovis 1200. But I would guess you use Embird to merge the labels to create the label. Then save the design and send them to your machine. Embird is a very powerful program that can do much more than just adjust the size. But I’ve never used it, so I don’t know the details.
I combined your two comments because they are related.
if i use a biger hoop for my brother se 400 can I download biger designs size ?? the machine wil accept theme??(ej: 4.84″(w) x 3.66″(h))
thank’s
Gloria
Hi Gloria, No. The maximum embroidery area of 3.9×3.9″ is a physical limitation of how far the embroidery unit can more and doesn’t really depend on the hoop size.
I am SO overwhelmed with my brother se400! I’m having problems with the needle breaking and the top thread coming off every time I start the monogram! I don’t know what’s going on?? Ever had this issue??
I just saw on a conversation that your not supposed to roll a bobbin using the embroidery thread! But only supposed to use lightweight for the bobbin! Do you think this could be my problem? I rolled a bobbin with my embroidery thread. So I have embroidery on top and bottom??
Hi Amber, Please take a deep breath and check the threading. It sounds like the top thread isn’t threaded correctly. The only time I’ve had that problem is with cheap thread that had burrs on the spools that caught the thread. Once I smoothed the burrs, it stitched OK. Try to see if the thread is catching somewhere. Also, you could be right about the bobbin thread causing your problem. One or two pre-wound bobbins and a spool of white bobbin thread come with the machine. You should use them for the bobbin for embroidery. It is much lighter weight than embroidery thread. Embroidery is not like regular sewing. You only have embroidery on the top. On the back you have white with some pattern around the edges, but it doesn’t show.
Try using different brands of polyester emb thread. It makes a difference and only use emb needles! No universal.
Thanks, Denise.
Hi! I am just beginning to sew. I currently have a Kenmore 1912 I got as a Christmas present just to get a start. I am a teacher and really want to make my students ornaments and gifts. I also like to make hand made presents for people. I am trying to find the best machine for me. So, I have a few questions…Can you type messages to be sewn? For example, Happy Valentine’s Day 2014. Can you change the font sizes? Also, are there other sewing stitches available to download? What all should I initially purchase if I buy this machine? Thank you so much for your help!
Hi Kelly, there are two parts to the Brother SE400 that probably make it different than what you’re used to. It’s a regular sewing machine with decorative stitches. These are fixed and you can’t download new ones. But it also embroiders which is the exciting part for ornaments and gifts. You can use the built-in fonts to type messages as long as it fits in the 3.9″x3.9″ maximum embroidery area. You can set the font size to small, medium or large. Unlike sewing stitches, you can download embroidery designs, including alphabet designs to create messages or monograms. Please see my post on monograming for more about this.
You don’t need much to get started: some test fabric, embroidery thread, stabilizer. I would start very simply and learn the machine before buying a lot of supplies. So much of what you need depends on the type of projects you do and personal preferences. There are usually several ways to do something and different things you can use.
Eventually, you’ll probably need embroidery editing software. There are many choices and I suggest you learn how to use the machine before jumping into software and another learning curve. :-)
Thank you for taking the time to answer! I have a couple more questions. What are the negatives of this machine? Are there features you wish this machine had? If so, what are they? If you were to get a new machine again, would it be this one?
Hi Kelly, I don’t really have any negatives with the SE400. It’s all a matter of tradeoffs with how much money you want to spend. Of course, there are things I want, but I’m still not willing to spend the money for a more powerful machine, so I’m very happy with the SE400. Yes, I would buy it again if I were in the same circumstances of budget and also needing a sewing machine. (I had to leave my beloved, but ancient Elna in Italy when I moved.) For you, I don’t know anything about your Kenmore. But if you are happy with it for sewing, I would suggest looking at an embroidery-only machine like the PE500. I would also suggest the most important thing is to think hard about what kind of projects you want to do and will they fit in the 4″x4″ maximum embroidery area. Draw a square a bit smaller than that and put it on towels, shirts, etc. to judge. People often want larger designs and write asking how to do it, but it isn’t really practical IMHO. Of course, the next larger machine, the PE770 is several hundreds more, but worth it if you need larger designs. Please read my reviews and comparisons for more details.
I want to embroidery my granddaughters initials on some dresses. I would like to make it med. big med. and them to curve around or close to each other. The se400 doesn’t have this and I can’t find it on I embroidery. Esty does can I use there’s?
I’ve been trying to embroider a design I made using paint. I saved the design as a bmp, as I have many others, and then converted it to pes. For some reason, I can send it to the machine’s drive, and the machine screen shows the transfer, and the number of kb it is, but the design itself doesn’t show up. I’ve used just letters and numbers, so no issue there. Any ideas why it isn’t turning up?
Hi Janice, Usually when this happens, it’s because the design is too big. It needs to be smaller than 3.9″x3.9″. Sometimes the design is off center or there’s a stray anchor stitch outside the frame so that the machine thinks it’s too big. Have a close look at the design in your software. Are there separate objects (the letters or numbers) that are overlapping? — Not necessarily the letters or number themselves but the outline of the object. Can your software merge them? I saw this case once. It didn’t work until I saved it with the overlap removed.
I think you’re right, and thanks for the reply, about the size. I made it much smaller (only 94kb) and it worked. So is it less about the amount of memory, but actual size? The design was smaller than 3.9″ so I’ll take a look at the design to see if there are any random stitches. I love this machine, it is so neat and easy to do.
Hi Janice, Yes, there are two size limitations. The actual design size which is limited by the maximum embroidery area of about 3.9″. This is a physical limitation of how far the embroidery unit can move. (often and confusingly called the hoop size). And the file size which is limited by the amount of memory. People don’t usually run into that, but since you’re converting from a .bmp file, I could see where you might. Brother also says “.pes files saved with the number of stitches, the number of colors and the number of combined patterns exceeding the specified limits cannot be displayed”, but I don’t know where they are specified or what they are. But it’s something to keep in mind when creating your own designs.