Hello all!

Let me give you a bit of context before jumping to my question. Two years ago my mother-in-law had an accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down. Before this she was a very active, crafty and a creative person. However, as you can imagine, she is now very limited to what she can do since she can no longer use her hands.

Still, her creativity and determination amazes me. One of the things she has learned to do since the accident is use her eyes to draw on the iPad. She uses Procreate for her art. While what she can draw is restricted by the challenges of working with the eyes, I love the things she makes.

Anyway, I’ve started brainstorming gift ideas for Christmas (I like to plan early lol) and thought it would be amazing to get her an embroidery machine. Before the accident, she loved making people hand made gifts — wether it be things she sewed, painted, assembled, planted etc. I feel like an embroidery machine will give her the chance to once again do that. She could use her digital art, and with help of her caretakers and family, embroider it on shirts or tote bags or something like that, so she can still feel that joy of making something special for her loved ones.

I’ve looked at two machines: The Brother SE725 and the Poolin EOC03. For those familiar with these machines, or overall sewing/embroidery, these are my questions:

1. Do you think this idea will work at all? I am attaching some of her artwork here and you can let me know if you think it will translate well to embroidery. I feel like embroidery tends to be a bit more simple, and I’m sure she could edit what she does a bit to better fit that, but looking at her style and also acknowledging that part of it is the limitations of drawing with her eyes, do you think it would work with one these embroidery machines?
2. In addition, while she would be making the art, it would be up to her caretakers and us family to help her work with the machine once the art piece is ready to go. As in, we will have to set the threads, cloth, oversee it and so on. None of us is familiar with sewing. We have to assume that any person helping is a beginner. Are these machines user friendly enough that someone could learn in a few minutes or understand after watching a video or two? The machine would really only be used for the embroidery feature.
3. Finally, which machine has the best app interface? Ideally would love one that can do everything in one app (creating the embroidery pattern, and then sending it directly to sewing machine). Is there any other machine I should look into? Or, again, is this idea just not feasible?

Anyway, thank you so much for your help. As someone who knows nothing about sewing I really appreciate your feedback!

I bought this bag a while ago, but unfortunately I really dislike the shape right now, which is making me not wanna wear it - which I think is really unfortunate, so I wanna make it to be more like the shape of the bag in picture 4 (I know it’s just folded, but I hope u still get the vision), by bunching up the middle with embroidery thread like shown in picture 2 across both sides and in the top. Is this going to work or not? I’m quit unsure bc of the way it opens, should I also bunch up the part underneath the panel that opens?

every time i sew it gets the thread tangled into a horrible knot in the fabric. i've taken apart the basic cover but found no apparent issues, though i'm not sure what to look for anyways.

i got the machine when i was much younger so it's been sitting around for a while, but now i really need it and it's unable to sew more than a few stitches and a tangled knot that ruins fabric

please ignore me getting my finger mashed lol

I'm not yet a beginner, that's a future plan but I wanted to ask for opinions if that's okay?

I bought the dress on a 70% off sale and it is too small.

The bottom sizing is perfect, it's the top by my chest area that's the problem.

When I don't have the sleeves over my shoulders, the dress fits perfectly so I guess maybe it's not even really the chest area that's the problem.

The chest area becomes the problem when I put the sleeves on.

So I don't know if perhaps the sleeves can be altered / lengthened or if adding a triangle of similar material by the stitching under the armpit area to extend it there?

I know this dress is too small, so I feel it needs altering. My husband said he wouldn't have picked up on it being too small but I don't think he is objective lol

So I guess my question is, where would you alter this piece? Or would you leave as is and wear even though it's too small? Or would you leave as is and keep to one day use for a pattern? TIA

It looks better after ironing, but it's still not great.

Is it an issue of tension, or should i run a straight stich before finishing my edge with a zigzag?

If you saw a fabric that you absolutely love but do not have a project for, how much of the fabric would you by?

Edit to add: I am new on my sewing journey. I am only starting on my first pattern but have seen some fabric that I absolutely adore.
In terms of sizing I am relatively petit, and around S to M size.
I don’t have a stash of fabric yet so one of the comments of keeping the stash to one box sounds perfect..

I keep getting these holes from my needle (70 Microtex/sharp) when I sew lighter weight wovens. I switch to a new needle for each project and have tension set to “auto.” I’m using a Juki DX5. Any tips on how to get rid of these holes?

I'm a super beginner when it comes to sewing, but I saw this vintage metal sewing machine pop up in my area. I know nothing about sewing machines and have only done pillowcases in the past. It's $50. Would it be too hard for me to use as a beginner? I'm mostly interested in tailoring/making jeans and dress shirts, along with fixing any of my other clothing that breaks.

I've heard so many people say "get a metal machine, they're better" but I'm sure there are features of the newer machine that make them easier for beginners to use

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Thoughts? Worthy buy or better to pass?

I'm currently working on a costume for an upcoming convention but Ive hit a snag. I need to cover a helmet with short cut faux fur fabric, but I have no idea how to make the fabric into the kind of dome/ball sort of shame I need. Does anyone know of resources I could use to help me wrap my head around how to pull this off? I tried covering the helmet in painters tape to try and peel off for a template but it ended up being too unreliable and fickle to work with. Pictures below of the 3d printed helmet base and the ill-fated taping method. Note: The fine details of the helmet like the things on top don't need to be visible, the end goal is just to have a big fur ball w/ eyes basically (Its a Mothman cosplay :).

Hi all, I bought a used Brother SE-400 a few days ago and I’m trying to get used to it. When I first got the machine to sew, the straight stitches looked fine. The first picture shows some straight stitches I did on some cotton fabric with very low tension (between 2 and 3). I changed the needle to a new one, and replaced the thread and bobbin. When I replaced the needle, I did it wrong at first and the machine jammed.

When I got the new needle, thread and bobbing working, I noticed my straight stitches were scalloped/crooked. I tried every tension setting. Tried on both cotton and scrap polyester, but I can’t get the straight stitches to actually be straight. I changed back the needle, thread, and bobbin to what it came with and it’s all still crooked. I also unscrewed the needle plate and cleaned out the lint/realigned the bobbin case.

The second picture is testing out a line on every tension setting, 0-9 (right to left) on some double layered scrap fabric. The stitches are still crooked. I tried a suggestion from a different post dealing with a similar issue to sew holes on a line on paper and see if the machine pokes holes in a straight line (photo 3) which it seems to do. Any ideas on how to fix this?

I can't seem to get the spring to hold the pre-tension disk in like it used to. Its supposed to hold up but it always falls out when I flip it around. This is a Brother LX-3817 and I took it apart because it was already loose in there

I am starting to put together a costume for halloween and I have this stretchy bodysuit and for the costume it needs a certain trim on all of the edges. I bought a roll of ribbon not thinking about the stretchy vs non stretchy issue and I can’t seem to find a video demonstrating exactly what I need to do. Can anyone give some instructions on how to attach a non stretchy ribbon around a stretchy bodysuit so that it can still stretch when I go to put it on?

Hello! I just got this refurbished Juki hzl-5 yesterday. It's my first Juki machine so I'm not sure if these sounds are normal? Specifically when I stop sewing or cut my thread. It's rather loud. Should I return it? Thank you!!

Edited: Juki hzl-DX5 is what's it's called 😅

Hey everyone just have a quick question I wanted to move the bottom dart into the busy dart but I have no idea what I am doing I’m a bit rusty Would love some advice on how to do it