Best Brother Embroidery Machines

Have you been considering a Brother embroidery machine? Embroidery is such a fun hobby – you get a real sense of accomplishment when you create your finished pieces. And you can make it all, whatever your tastes. You can go colorful, intricate, elegant, or bold. The only limit is your imagination.

But you need the right equipment to ensure your seamless success (pun intended)!

That’s where we come in, we’ve been checking out some of the best Brother embroidery machines on the market at the moment, and we’ve handpicked our top 5 favorites which we can’t wait to show you!

You can be assured that they’re all bestsellers – not surprising as they come from Brother, a top brand.

There’s something here for every level of ability, from those looking who are still learning, right the way through to those who want to start their own home embroidery business.

In the interest of brevity, we haven’t included any commercial embroidery machines. This is because they are fiddly beasts, designed for experienced commercial embroiderers.

Instead, we’ve concentrated on Brother embroidery machines and combo embroidery and sewing machines which are the way forward and are much easier to work with.

After these reviews, we’ve also got a handy buying guide for you, which covers everything you might want to think about Brother embroidery machines before you buy. Then we’re going to top that off with a section where we answer some of your most frequently asked questions.

And without further ado, let’s press ahead with our Brother embroidery machine recommendations!

Best Brother Embroidery Machines

Brother SE600 Sewing and Embroidery Machine

Got the itch to stitch? Then you need to look no further.

This, like all of our top 5 picks comes from that top brand Brother. And this is one of their top-selling machines. It’s easy to see why.

This is not only a great embroidery machine, but it’s also a sewing machine too, offering greater versatility than an embroidery machine alone.

The embroidery hoop measures 4 by 4 inches, which is more than enough for most motifs and monograms.

Besides the sewing machine functionality, what we love about this machine is the preview screen. It’s a nice size, coming in 3.7 inches. But better yet it’s in full color, designed to give the most accurate preview possible.

If you’re new to embroidery, you can dip your feet in gradually, by starting with one of the 80 built-in designs. Or with 9 built-in embroidery fonts.

But your creativity with the machine does not, by any means, have to end there. You can import purchased designs or even your own designs via the machine’s USB port.

Once sent to the machine, you can make further changes to your images via the touchscreen, such as expanding or shrinking, or mirroring.

If you want more inspiration, we recommend Brother’s own iBroidery website, which features over 5000 exclusive embroidery designs, including the likes of Disney and Marvel characters. 

You can change the needle’s speed completely as you wish, so you could start slow as you gain your bearings with your technique, and then speed up as you gain your confidence and momentum.

Where the sewing machine functionality comes in, the SE600 has all the features that make sewing easy, such as an auto-threaded needle and a jam-resistant drop-in top bobbin. Such features can help even a sewing novice to achieve good quality results.

There are 7 different sewing feet included, with which you can make buttonholes, make zigzags, overcast, do monogramming, sew zippers, and do blind stitch.

The other thing we love about this one is the expanded needle-to-arm workspace, which provides you with more room and helps to accommodate thicker fabrics, such as denim.

Of course, when you’re spending this much money, you want to be assured that you have a product that lasts. And on that end, you’ll be pleased to hear that the SE600 comes backed by a solid 25-year warranty, complete with tech support for the life of the machine. Definitely a great contender if you are in the market for a Brother embroidery machine.

Brother SE1900 Sewing and Embroidery Machine

This Brother embroidery machine may not have seen quite as many sales as say the SE600, but it does come very highly recommended. On it’s Amazon page, for example, it has achieved an average customer rating of a very impressive 5 stars out of 5.

It has a lot in common with the SE600, in that both machines are adept at both embroidery and sewing. The SE1900 does however have a lot more to offer, which explains why the price is substantially higher. But if you have the budget, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t splash out and ensure that you’re getting the best of the best.

If it wasn’t for the high price, we would certainly have made this one our number 1 pick for a Brother embroidery machine.

The SE1900 boasts a larger embroidery hoop than your standard embroidery machines, coming in at 5 inches wide by 7 inches long, a significant improvement on the usual 4 by 4 inches. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to constantly hoop when you want to work on larger images.

The number of built-in embroidery designs comes in at a mighty 138, meaning you’re bound to find designs you’d like to use without having to go online and pay for new designs. And you get a good range of fonts too, including 7 in the English alphabet and 3 in Japanese.

You can view these designs on the 3.2-inch color touchscreen, and from here you can tweak the designs however you wish, shrink them expand them, flip them around. Or you can import designs via the machine’s USB port.

The SE1900’s sewing features are as impressive as its embroidery features. There are a staggering 240 decorative stitches already built into the machine’s memory.

The SE1900 has all the features that make sewing in today’s age so easy, such as an auto-threaded needle and a jam-resistant drop-in top bobbin. There are 8 different sewing feet included, including one for buttonholes.

With Brother, you’re in very good hands. Your machine is backed by a very lengthy 25-year warranty, and the after-sales tech support is available throughout the life of the machine. A fabulous choice for a domestic use Brother embroidery machine.

Brother PE800 Embroidery Machine

If you would prefer a machine built for embroidery alone (perhaps because you already have a sewing machine that you’re perfectly happy with), then this is an excellent option.

In many ways, the Brother PE800 is a replica of the SE1900, but minus the additional sewing functionality.

The Brother PE800 features a very large embroidery hoop, coming in at 5 inches wide by 7 inches long, a notable improvement on the more traditional 4 by 4 inches. The beauty of having such a large embroidery hoop is that you don’t have to constantly hoop when you want to work on larger images.

There are 138 embroidery designs already built into the machine’s memory. You can browse through them all on the machine’s large 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen in full color. 

And that’s not all – you can also enjoy 11 different built-in fonts. You can adjust the designs as wish, whether you want to shrink, expand, or create a mirror image, and preview it before you decide to get the needle moving. 

We love the inclusion of step-by-step tutorials that you can review right on the machine’s display.

You can also, of course, import any design you like, via the USB port. You can use a flash drive or hook it up directly to your laptop. Whether you’ve created your own or found one you like online, perhaps on Brother’s own iBroidery website.

We love that it has an automatic needle threader – pushing the thread through the eye of the needle could otherwise be quite time consuming and frustrating.

You get excellent after-sales service when you go with a Brother embroidery machine. In instances such as this, you get a lengthy 25-year warranty, and the tech support lasts for the entire life of the machine.

Brother PE535 Embroidery Machine

If perhaps you don’t have an unlimited budget and would prefer to find something significantly more affordable, then the Brother PE535 could very well be the one for you. It’s hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Brother embroidery machines we’ve shown you so far

It’s a straightforward embroidery machine with none of the bells and whistles you’d get with a sewing-and-embroidery combination machine.

Brother has not had to make any sacrifices in regards to the quality of the machine, to be able to make an embroidery machine at such an affordable price.

For example, the LCD touchscreen is of the same size as in the more expensive models and is in full color. You can also make any adjustments you’d like to make to the image on the touchscreen before you get embroidering.

The embroidery hoop is also of a decent size, coming in at 4 by 4 inches. This is more than enough for most motifs and monograms.

And you still get plenty of designs already built-in to the machine’s memory, 80 to be exact. These include floral designs, holiday-orientated designs, and more.

And you can send as many designs as you like to the machine via the USB port. Imagine what designs you might find online to use with this simple yet mighty Brother embroidery machine.

There are also 9 different styles of font available, already built-in. Six are English alphabet, and 3 are from the more decorative Japanese lettering.

If you haven’t used a Brother embroidery machine before now, you don’t have to worry. There is a step by step tutorial you can access, right on the machine’s own touchscreen.

One of our favorite features of the PE535 has to be the automatic needle threader, which takes all the frustration away out of trying to get the thread through the eye of the needle. Shaky hands or strained vision – no problem.

And, like the other Brother embroidery machines listed in this article, this one is also covered by a solid 25-year warranty. Tech support is available right through the machine’s lifetime too.

Brother PE550D Embroidery Machine

If you’re a big Disney fan and would love to add Disney motifs to your clothes and accessories, then this could be the perfect Brother embroidery machine for you!

It’s a no-fuss embroidery machine rather than an embroidery and sewing machine combo. That means you don’t have to worry about any, perhaps unfamiliar, sewing machine accessories, like sewing feet. And this is a good thing because it means the price is significantly less.

This machine is very much like the PE535, but with the added bonus that many of the built-in images are exclusive Disney images. You simply don’t get this with other brands as Disney designs are licensed exclusively to Brother. So, if you want the best options for Disney, this is definitely a Brother embroidery machine you should consider.

There are over a hundred built-in designs, 125 to be exact, and a significant proportion of them are official Disney designs. And you can combine them with any of the 9 fonts, also already built-in to the system.

You can also import whatever other designs you like, using the machine’s USB port. You could either download designs onto a flash drive or hook the PE550 straight up to your laptop. 

And it’s certainly worth noting at this point that you can access a lot more official Disney embroidery designs straight from Brother’s own website, iBroidery. 

The embroidery hoop is a nice size, coming in at 4 by 4 inches, which is ample for most motifs and monograms.

And there’s an automatic needle threader to boot! What more could you ask for?

This machine is also covered by Brother’s famous 25-year warranty, AND you can access their tech support throughout the entire lifetime of the machine.

Best Brother Embroidery Machines: Guide to the Purchase Process

As promised, here’s your buying guide!

Budget

As you shop for your embroidery machine, we recommend that you check the prices as you go along. That way you can gauge whether you have a sufficient budget.

Embroidery machines can vary quite considerably in price. But even the more affordable ones can often cost as much $500 or more. Yet others still can cost upwards of $1000.

We were careful to include only the more affordable price range in our top 5 picks, to ensure that you’re not only looking at top quality machines but also ones that offer the best value for money.

Hoop Size

In most instances, a hoop size of 4 by 4 inches is big enough to easily accommodate most motifs and monograms.

However, if you wanted to create a larger design, perhaps to go on the back of a shirt, or upon a wall, then a larger hoop size can help to more easily achieve this size.

If this will be of interest to you, then we can recommend our number pick, the.

Built-in Designs

If you’re not a graphic designer by heart, then it’s quite likely that you’d want to make use of other people’s designs.

Brother has it’s own dedicated design catalog that you can access online, that has thousands of designs from which you can take your pick to use yourself. These designs often feature well-known characters from the big screen.

However, these come at a small price, and if you want several designs to get you started in your embroidery journey, then you may be more interested in a machine that has several designs already built-in. Fortunately, all of the machines in our top 5 picks feature some built-in designs to get you started.

Brand

Brother is THE best brand for embroidery machines at the moment. Their machines outperform both the sewing machine giant Singer and the well-established embroidery brand Janome.

Brother outperforms both in terms of customer sales and in terms of customer feedback

Sewing Machine Capability

Many of the embroidery machines out there at the moment are merely just that, embroidery machines. But if you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that several of the embroidery machines in our top 5 picks offer sewing machine functionality too.

The good news is that Brother embroidery machines are available at a very similar price range to those that are designed for embroidery alone, with less than $150 difference between the two types of machine.

But for those people who don’t consider themselves sewers, and are beginners to embroidery, we get that the extra functionality can be off-putting, as it may feel overwhelming to those who are new to the hobby. This is why we were sure to include both types of machines in our top 5 picks.

Last Thoughts

Whichever you chose, we hope love you Brother embroidery machine!

Happy sewing!