I am currently stitching on a Brother 8500D, or THE Dream Machine. I’ve had this machine since January of 2015. Before that I used a Brother 4500D, the Duetta. That was my first Brother. For a while I had a second-hand Brother 6-needle embroidery machine. That was great fun, but I didn’t use it very much so it moved on to a new home. I’ve also stitched on various Singers and the first machine I ever purchased was a JoAnn Sonata, which I still have. It’s a real workhorse.
The Dream Machine, or “Dreamy” for short, has a really large
embroidery area – 9.5” x 14” and some great features that allow for on screen
editing of designs and projects. It also
has a scanning feature for creating embroidery designs from line art and also
to aid in placement of the designs on garments, blocks and other items.
For regular sewing it has many utility stitches, decorative
stitches and stitch adjustments. I
appreciate the ability to fine-tune the needle placement for a scant quarter
inch seam. The machine stitches very
smoothly and I very rarely have to make any tension adjustments. When I’m piecing half square triangles or
other stitching that requires accurate placement of stitching lines, there is a
laser beam that shines onto the fabric.
By using the laser light, I do not need to draw the pencil lines on the
centers of the squares.
The machine has an 11” throat so there is plenty of room for
quilting on large pieces. I have the
accessory extension table so I am able to manage free motion quilting quite
well. Dreamy also works well with the
Westalee ruler foot and quilting templates.
I have been practicing quite a bit trying to warm up for a queen size
that I want to do a large Baptist fan design on.
In my introduction on December 1, I mentioned that I do a
lot of RV Quilting. The Duetta machine
and accessories now live in the RV so I am able to stitch whenever we have a
rest or rainy day. On our last trip I
brought my embroidery unit to work on a couple projects. The conundrum was that I didn’t know exactly
what colors of thread I needed so I started with a few spools of each color
family. I have these great containers
from Target that are 12” x 12” square and about 6” deep. I had quite a lot of thread in the container
and it wasn’t full yet, so I added some more… then some more… a little more…
rearranged it a bit and wah-la! – the last spools all fit!! I brought my entire rayon embroidery thread
collection in a half cubic foot container!
I really didn’t need to, but it was fun to know that I can. Of course, the color I needed was always on
the bottom….
As much as I love my Dreamy, I am in the market for a
stationary quilting machine. I have my
eye on the HQ Capri. I love the fact
that it sets perpendicular to me and I have a great view of the needle. Probably my biggest challenge with quilting
on the domestic is that my view of the needle is obscured by the head of the
machine. It also comes with an adjustable
height table that has sensors to regulate stitch length. The entire footprint will fit well into my
existing space with a bit of reconstruction.
The second desk top will need to be removed and resized, but I have high
hopes it will all work out nicely.
For photos of many of my stitching projects, check out my Facebook Page – by Laura McFall (https://www.facebook.com/byLauraMcFall) – where you can peruse all of the albums of my creations. I have also been on Instagram since 2019 - @bylauramcfall. On either platform you can search #bylauramcfall or #flamingomooncampers to see what we’re up to.
Keep them comings! Looks like the second desk is getting chopped!
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