One question: do you have another machine you can trade in and get a combo (space saver) or are you new to sewing and starting from scratch. I'm glad you brought up the storage problem. Not only do you have the machine, you also have the instruction manuals, attachments, stabilizers, fabrics, needles, and embroidery thread storage to consider and whether all of it will fit in that closet or if you will have to purchase a sewing armoir, a sewing station type thing, or construct some type of non-permanent sewing area or table within the apartment. Storage alone will cut right into your budget. Machine embroidery is not a cheap hobby by any means and can turn out to be a storage and money hog if you don't watch what you are doing and purchasing. I will soon be selling my condo and downsizing to a smaller sized condo. I will have have to take into consideration my accumulation of sewing and embroidery which now fills one 5' wide closet, 3 tough totes--wait, make that 5, a 5 drawer 48" campaign chest packed to the brim, the piano bench (what sheet music?), and 2 foot stools with flip up lids I keep under the sofa table to store the current hand embroidery projects so (sew) I think I will need a second bedroom. I've already downsized, reorganized, and cleaned out sewing once when I painted the closet and doors with no new sewing related purchases--sniff, they know me by first name at the home improvement stores.

Yep now that I have got the machine I can do just that stitchntime! I don't retain it all though like some younger folks do since I am older but I will get it in time. Thank you Colleen! I had bought me some thread on Ebay but it hasn't got here yet so I found a sewing place where I can get it locally. My Aunt uses the same thread and it's called Art thread. There's about 1,100 yds to each spool. They have some gorgious colors to! I have been playing with the machine for the past couple of days and I have finally figured some of it out. There's not many folks with this machine. I haven't found but one person with one. I was hoping I bought one several folks has. I don't know if it's an older machine or a newer one. Mine was new in the box but don't know when this one was orignally made. Anyway I am rambling on again! Thank you again!!!!

I agree with msmeow. I have two machines and thought that I could make money the same way BUT it is a difficult market to break into. I have Vikings and love them. I use them to do items more for family; I had a lady tell me she was opening a varity store and gave me some items to embroid for her. She promised to pay me when she brought over the next items, but she never picked up the next order nor paid me for the ones she took. I did give the items she did not pick up to the band and they sold to help pay for the trip to Florida they were taking. It helped finance some members who could not afford the trip. Good luck.

Well, you can start by looking at machines that have a 5x7 hoop (to do a 6" font.) The Brother (most user friendly) has the PE 770, 780 with this size hoop and USB port for transferring designs to machine. You can buy new for under $1000. But look around for best price--maybe even a used one because they've not been in the market for a long time. It might be a little difficult putting 3 six inch letters in a 5'' wide hoop to create a monogram--so pay attn to the hoop sizes offered with machines. That will be the max size you can do embroidery. Or you could opt for a machine with only 4x4 hoop and do one four inch letter at a time. For monograms tho, unless you buy them ready to use (meaning someone merges the letters into one stitch out), I think you will need some sort of software. You can pay for it in no time.All machines have several alphabets built in, and you can increase or decrease the letters a bit, I'm not sure one can take a 3'' up to 6''....usually it is no more than 20% either way. Be aware--embroidery is very addictive--and expensive (stabilizers, threads, etc) So do your diligent homework before plunging in. It is a great hobby, tho.