I purchased this machine because I wanted to learn to do machine embroidery and didn't want to spend a fortune. I think it is an excellent value. It seems very solid and sewed beautifully with no adjustments straight out of the box. There are sensors in the thread path that are very sensitive and incorrectly report broken thread quite often. As soon as I got the hang of flossing the thread into the sensors this became less of a problem. There are several yahoo groups dedicated to machine embroidery and the nice people there were of great assistance to me as I got started.
Folks like me who are new to machine embroidery should understand that the sewing machine must be physically attached to a computer while you are embroidering. The soft ware running the computer sends the information to the sewing machine one color at a time so don't think that you can download the design and then sew it out later. You are going to need a computer to run the embroidery feature of this machine. I'm using an old computer that was discarded at my office because it was too slow to run large office programs over a network. I took all the other software off and it runs the Future software just fine. If you are going to need to acquire a computer to run your embroidery machine you should consider that cost along with the price of the Futura.
Thread is the paint of embroidery and since it is different than regular thread you are also going to have to make an investment in thread to get started. The price of a spool can vary greatly but if you buy a bunch at one time it can be pricy so think about this to when deciding to make the plunge into machine embroidery.
The difference between the Futura 250 and the Futura 350 is the software. If you plan to create your own embroidery designs you should know that only the basic software comes with the 250 but you can purchase the full software separately. Making clip art into machine embroidery is much more difficult than I first thought and to run the Futura software the sewing machine must be connected to the computer even if you are just working on the design and not doing the actual sewing. There are other software packages that do not have this requirement. You could use them to make the art into embroidery files but you will still need to be connected to your Futura to stitch them out.
I am extremely happy with this product and would recommend it to other people like me who just want to have some fun and spice up their craft and sewing projects. If you are looking to do embroidery professionally then purchase a higher priced and faster machine.
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My wife and I needed an embroidery machine to create some work for one of our clients. Not wanting to spend a whole lot of money as the embroidery part of the machine would not be used on a regular basis I read the reviews here for the CE-250 and we decided to purchase one.
Considering the 5-1 favorable review report here I must say I was completely fooled. The original 1 star report is right on the money with regards to this machine. The CE-250 requires an immense amount of patience and time. The machine constantly breaks its thread, not only in embroidery mode, but in standard sewing mode as well. I am beginning to hear the "beep beep" of the E-1 warning in my sleep (we do a lot of personal sewing as well). We followed the instructions to a T on set up and threading the machine but still phoned Singer tech support to check on the user error possibility when the E-1 Warning kept continually popping up. The young lady who answered our call was quite nice and assured us we had correctly set up the machine but she did add the following: "slide the thread back and forth through the machine as you are threading it to make sure the sensors read the thread." We followed her advice and are still wasting as much thread as we are sewing.
The trump card for me comes when you attempt a embroidery stitch that has more density than the default pattern, the default pattern being rather loose and requiring a lot of hand stitching to fill holes. When you drop the density below the default "4" setting the machine gets caught on the bobbin thread density and will cause the fabric to get caught in the foot thus tearing the fabric. (yes the foot is in the down setting for embroidery). Because of the work we need to do we have had to plod through this but the amount of fabric that has been ruined, along with the time and effort, has far eclipsed any money we my have saved buying this rudimentary machine.
If you want some nice embroidery spend the money and get a better machine. If you want a really expensive sewing machine that has some cool attachments for show, buy this one.
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I bought this machine Christmas of last year. I must admit i was a bit intimidated by it at first. Once i took the machine out of the box and saw all the parts and looked at the DVD I then put everything back in the box and waited for a good 3 weeks to open the box again. I was determined not to let a machine intimidate me, so I took everything out and followed the instructions. I did get the error message at first about the threading, but because i had read the instructions and viewed the DVD I knew that i was not threading the machine correctly why blame a machine for human error. So I took it upon myself to learn how to thread the machine correctly and once I had accomplished that task, I had no problems with the machine doing embroidery or sewing. This machine does nice embrodiery work, but you have to experiment with it to find out what the machine can do and what you need to do to to get the machine to do it. So, I bought some cheap cloth on sale and went about practicing the stitches and the embroidery appliques. And the lessons I learned from doing that saved me a bundle on material that I would have otherwise ruined and the frustration i would have felt in doing so.
So, bottom line is that I would recommnend this machine. You must take the time to understand how this machine works and read the instructions and review the DVD (also going online to websites and reading the Q&A's about this machine will also help you. And, it is not about how computer savy or how long you have been sewing if you are not following the directions for this particular machine none of that is going to help you.
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when i bought this machine i had never used a sewing machine before in my life. I had never even sewn by hand. i really had no clue what i was doing. i just followed the directions on how to thread it and within a few days i had it figured out. the embroidery and sewing was a breeze. i have gotten the annoying "broken thread" error plenty myself but i have found that if you just change the way you thread it you can find a way it works flawlessly. when i get the error i move the spool onto the vertical spool holder and try guiding it through the thread guide and that will work. so yeah sometimes it takes a second to get it running perfectly but once the thread it fine the machine works great. i realize i have no basis of comparison but for someone who has never sewn before to figure it all out this fast i feel i can let you all know that it isnt complicated or difficult to use at all. the software is great, my embroideries come out beautifully and i am so happy i bought it.
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I was a life-long Singer customer since 1975. I purchased the CE=250 in January and have yet to embroider one project successfully. The machine sews beautifully but the quilting and embroidery features do not function properly. Constant jamming, birdnesting and needle breakage. The bobbin case continues to jump causing constant problems. My machine has been in the shop 4 times. The Customer Service Dept. in TN was absolutely horrible! They do not honor the warranty and make up the rules as they go along.
If you must buy this machine, which I'm highly against, make sure you live near a warranty center. Tennessee will not pay to ship nor will they insure when they send it back. Do not expect any pity when you call with your first problem. Do expect your sewing skills to be called into question.
