The more I think about it, I am reluctant to take on a large $ burden with the volume of embroidery that we currently have. The guy that I was using for embroidery is encouraging me to pursue starting with a new machine but one that is simple and pretty small. Based on what he has done for us so far, he feels that us buying a new machine for $15 - $18 K is too much for us right now.

He and I have had long discussions about where our business might be going once we purchase a machine and as a result of those conversations, I am reluctant to take on a lot of wholesale work in order to help pay for the new machine. I could take over many of his customers but most are low to medium volume with the expectation of paying low prices.

The question for this group is whether anyone has any experience with a small machine - I don't know that they exist - but maybe one that is more for a small amount of embroidery on small items. I know that there are home sewing machines that do embroidery and that doesn't seem like a good thing but are there any machines that are in the middle of these home ones and what I would call an industrial machine?

I am going to the SGIA show in Vegas next week - originally to look at Tajima and Barudan - but if there other machines I should look at while I'm there, I'd love to hear about them.

Brother makes a 6 needle and SWF makes a 12. Both are less expensive than Barudan. Depending on your needs one of these may work for you.

One of the other vendors at shows the shows we do has a Brother. But all they do is lettering and offer only a couple of colors. It does take the abuse of being hauled all over the country and long hours during the show.

I believe the sewing field on a small Brother is about 8x12? So logos can be done, even smaller jacket backs would fit in that. I'm not sure on a small SWF what it's field is.

I see you found your way to eline :)  That is a very helpful group.

As for software, you can get by using Embird which costs about $200 instead of spending 10 times that for commercial software. After 4 years, I am still using it and just now feeling the need to move onto commercial software.

Thanks for everyone's valuable input. I ended up buying a Tajima NEO mostly based on my assessment of Hirsch's training and support. I went with their Creator software which supposedly lists for $4500 (!). I like the idea of being able to grow into the software without worrying about upgrading later. I received lots of valuable input from eLine folks and I went to the SGIA show in Las Vegas in late September to look at machines. The SWF rep was extremley helpful and the Barudan rep didn't even want to answer my seemingly stupid questions. The Tajima reps seemed to understand my concern about training and support and they answered most of my questions.

The SWF training and support got rapped pretty hard on eLine - and perhaps the MESA people are being painted with the same brush as the SWF reps on the East Coast - who appear to have a pretty bad reputation when it comes to support. This uncertainty in what I would be getting turned me off of SWF - but boy was I close to buying one!

The Tajima machine arrived when promised in an extremely well-made and intelligently engineered crate, the admiration of which helped lower the post-purchase anxiety. With 2 hours of training from the Tajima rep, we were sewing names and monograms on stuff. We have a long way to go, but I am pleased with my decision so far and I want to thank all of you who provided such valuable input. I couldn't have made a decision without you.

Colin

Rebecca,

Do you still have your machine? I know a while back you were trying to sell.