Guides

Short, plain-English answers to the questions that decide which machine you buy.

• The best embroidery machine for beginnersFive picks, chosen by design size and whether you also need to sew.
• Embroidery machines with a large hoop, rankedEvery machine we track, largest embroidery field first, drawn to scale.
• Embroidery hoop sizes, explained at true scaleSee 4×4, 5×7, 6×10 and 8×12 hoops at real size and check your own design.
• Combo machine or embroidery-only? How to decideThree questions that settle whether you need one machine or two.
• PES, DST, JEF: which file format your machine readsWhy formats differ, which one each machine uses, and what to do with the wrong one.
• Brother SE700 vs PE900The two machines people weigh most, spec by spec.