Brother PE540D Disney Embroidery Only Machine

Fun, Fun, Fun. An affordable way to learn how to machine embroider.

Love it worked as expected!

the only reason why I didn't give the fifth star is the size of internal memory, every time I want to upload a net set of my home-made embroidery design I have to delete the old ones.

Love it

The best gift I ever bought for myself

A good product and was easy to use, but we returned it because we needed a bigger embroidery space than what this offered! I did buy another Brother Embroidery machine that works well too!

Ok. Almost every function malfunctions 50% of the time. East to follow directions but build quality isn't quite right so things like the bobbin wrapping isn't neat which affects use, etc. kind of discouraging

Very solid machine with a lot of features. It works right out of the box - my 4-year old granddaughter is learning how to use it, it's that easy! Both she and I are loving it!

I love to do crafts of all kinds, and know how to hand-embroider. I've always wanted to own an embroidery machine, but could not afford one. I was a little bit skeptical at first, since my first experience with Brother was a lemon sewing machine (it only truly likes to work in reverse!). Compared to other machines, the price point on this one just cannot be beat! The manual is more than a little intimidating. Some of it is very roughly translated-to-English descriptions, but I muddled through to the point I was willing to give it an actual try. Putting the parts together was much worse on paper than in real life - a simple snap-on to the bottom part, and then snap on the hoop and I was ready to roll. On to the pleasant option of which design to try first. My experience with the automatic needle threader was more frustration than helpful, and I found myself wishing I could take it off so I could reach the #6 threading spot easier. The instructions seem to overcomplicate it, so I'll try it again in another way viewed on a video and see if I don't want to take a hammer to it. On the embroidery - you do have to change the thread a lot to get the desired results. Thankfully, like most Brother machines, the threading sequence is printed right on the machine so you aren't trying to remember if the thread goes over or under that metal piece or around this little piece. We used a rayon type thread, which has a nice sheen to it. Since I was giving the machine a test run, we did our tests on simple (translation: cheap) muslin fabric with tear-away stabilizer on the back. I have included some pictures on our results. I wish we could load more photos, but I guess that would overload the website. (I also tried to take a video, but failed miserably for some reason.) I would advise users to buy the best thread you can afford, because one of our cheaper colors caused the needle to break because of thread burrs hitting the eye of the needle. SNAP!! That was the one actual complaint I had about this machine - we had to stop and put on a new needle of course, and we were on Color #3 of a six-color design. We could not go BACK to Color #3 and continue - we had to scrap the hoop contents and start over from the beginning. I would have liked the option to continue where we left off, but couldn't. The embroidery is not perfection - there were little gaps between the colored thread and the outlines on a couple designs we tried, but nothing overly bad. If I wasn't fine-tooth-combing it, I might not even notice. We even tried one of the six-color designs in only ONE color, just to see how it would look (and to save thread!) - it looked surprisingly good! For those new to machine embroidery, the machine will have connecting threads by color - in other words, if there are five areas that use black, there will be thread running between those five areas. It is normal and perfectly ok. This machine starts with a few anchoring stitches - just trim away the connected threads - they are NOT part of your design. That goes for the front AND the back. There are several Disney and Pixar licensed designs included with this model. There are five fonts as well. I wish there were more, and you can bet that fonts are the FIRST thing I am going to look for to download! Yes, you can just download more options, designs, fonts and frames to this machine. Well, to your computer, then transfer them to your machine via USB port. I have also learned as of today that there is software available to even digitize your own designs, which will create truly custom designs for your machine. The Brother uses files in the PES format (there are a LOT of embroidery formats out there, so be sure you stick with the right type for the machine). Brother has included their design library website location on the front of the machine, apparently knowing they will be creating an insatiable thirst for more designs and fonts! There are many YouTube videos available on how to use this machine, in case you are not into reading roughly translated manuals (even though I recommend at minimum familiarizing yourself with the machine via the manuals before trying using it). I've been looking at some today, and have already learned some new tricks. All in all, I truly love this machine. It does everything you could want (except large designs - that will take a different model - the maximum embroidery area for this one is 4x4, even though the hoop is larger than that) and does it very nicely. I am thrilled and extremely grateful to have had the chance to own it! In fact, since trying it out, my mind has been racing as to all the things I could make (or try to make) with this, and I haven't done a lick of actual work. My daughter also tried out a design and had no trouble with it either. We are in the process of making her first quilt, and had been wondering how we could get some of the words she wanted to include on her fabric as part of the design. Now we know! We'll be creating our own blocks. I seriously can recommend this machine to anyone who enjoys making custom gifts or even wants to start selling embroidered items as a side business. This is definitely for home use - the size and speed are not going to work for a high-volume business. But this home user is incredibly happy with the machine, and can barely wait to try some new fonts! You WILL enjoy this one! Note that I've read more than one review that complained about nesting on the back. If you have not done any sort of machine embroidery before, please know that you HAVE to use some sort of stabilizer fabric on the back of the item on which you are embroidering. Amazon sells many different types. I like to buy the precut, since it saves me a lot of time and frustration. This machine uses 8"x8" precuts. Any type will do, but I like the tear-away the best so far. If you are using a stretchy fabric, you'll want a more permanent stabilizer. Also, cheap threads are not a friend to this machine. That broken needle was on my first time out - the cheap thread caused a burr that snapped the needle in half. Get the best thread you can afford.