Brother Innovis sewing machine puts you in stitches

We can't remember the last time we so much as sewed a button on a shirt, so the idea of using a sewing machine is pretty alien to us. But we still like the idea of Brother's Innovis series, which come with hundreds of built-in patterns, including Disney and Sanrio characters and, more importantly, can work with both downloaded patterns and digital photos to make custom designs. At last there's a way to get all of our digital pics onto t-shirts that doesn't involve cheesy iron-on prints. Of course, the Innovis models start at about $1,000, but if that's the price of unlimited creativity -- and the ability to get the buttons back onto our shirts -- we'll pay it.

[Via I4U]

[mroach @ Jan 30th 2006 11:57AM]

Husqvarna has had embroidery machines like this for years.

[Dissent @ Jan 30th 2006 12:08PM]

Perhaps, but how much has Husqvarna charged?

$1000 seems like a pretty low price for something like this... although im no seamstress.

[mroachsucks @ Jan 30th 2006 12:11PM]

So What?!

[Singer 201 user @ Jan 30th 2006 12:12PM]

Yeah, I sew, so what! My 1935 Singer will stitch through leather or canvas like no current home sewing machine will! (Just had to justify my being a guy and having a sewing machine)

Anyways, Singer has had a line of sewing and embroidery machines using Nintendo Game Boys as the design interface for years. They currently have PC supported machines, like the Futura ( http://www.futura-support.com/ ) that have full Windows support.

I think Endgadget, or Joystiq (For a Game Boy connected unit) needs to get their hands on one for a test drive and try embroidering the logos on a few knit polos or tees and give them away afterwards to the readers.

[Robbie @ Jan 30th 2006 12:42PM]

Blimey, some people are SO cynical.

I'm pretty impressed that this can actually be done. I mean, how exactly do you program a sewing machine to sew all the stuff in order?

1 - flippin thousand though. Phew.

[strider_mt2k @ Jan 30th 2006 1:26PM]

My mother-in-law has one of these machines. By Brother I think.

She DLs patterns off the web and loads 'em up, it's killer!
This year for Christmas my wife and I got some beautiful custom embroidered towels done ith patterns she created herself.

Cool stuff!

[Big Old Andy @ Jan 30th 2006 2:04PM]

My wife has a more advanced Brother machine. You can take any image file, set it up with the Brother software, and emroider it. The machine does all the work - it moves the fabric, tells you when to change thread color, etc. Cool, but spendy - $5,000+. My wife has an embroidery business, so it makes sense. The more expensive machines have more processing power and can handle larger designs.

To bring this back into the Engadget world, our machine also has a 802.11G wireless card.

[furtim @ Jan 30th 2006 2:13PM]

Technology coming full circle. The first punch cards were used in the early 1700s to print patterns using looms. Now, we're doing the same thing with modern computers and electric sowing machines.

[Michael Benner @ Jan 30th 2006 2:16PM]

These machines have been around for years, I actually used to teach courses on how to use a computer to a sewing club just so they could use the features on their machines.

The stuff that comes out of these things is crazy, anybody that sews should pick one of these up.

[Ed @ Jan 30th 2006 2:32PM]

This is nothing new. My wife currently has both Janome and Brother embroidery machines and has also owned a Viking Rose.

Getting a digital picture into an embroidery-ready image is non-trivial - it requires a *LOT* of work by a somewhat competent artist. There are a lot (thousands) of downloadable designs though. The photo-to-stitch functionality has been around a while but it's pretty poor. If you've ever tried to print a raster picture on a vector plotter you'll begin to understand the level of complexity this requires.

[Nate MC @ Jan 30th 2006 3:03PM]

$1k is the base price for just about all embroidery machines. There were at least 3 of them at this price point last I was in a store looking at them.

[sean @ Jan 30th 2006 3:53PM]

I've seen a lot of DIY CNC stuff for routers and plasma cutters and stuff, but I've never seen any homebrew embroidery stuff though. Anyone know of any projects like this on the web? Is it the difficulty of syncing the needle with the movements that has prevented these kinds of projects, or just that sewing isn't cool enough for hackers?

[navamske @ Jan 30th 2006 3:54PM]

They should get Patrick Stewart to promote it.

"Make it sew."

[Kelly @ Jan 30th 2006 6:39PM]

They should get Linda Ronstadt to sing "It's Sew Easy" on the commercial.

[Mike @ Jan 30th 2006 7:35PM]

Brother's embroidery machine are aren't the greatest quality. There are ALOT of machines like this out there and have been for a while. They are similiar and even less in price. Also try Baby Lock, Husqvarna/Viking and Janome for good embroidery machines.

[Cxcx @ Jan 31st 2006 1:19AM]

For the home sewer, that wants to make presents, this is a great buy.

The difficulty is in the fact that a scanned picture is not a perfect as it may look. Once an item is scanned it have to be adjusted and almost redrawn on the computer. Very time consumming.

[Dissent @ Jan 31st 2006 11:00AM]

#13

LOL

You win the post of the day award.

[Chris @ Mar 5th 2006 1:39PM]

My aged Viking sewing machine just died. It's not repairable. I want a machine that sews the normal stuff, but also has the capacity to embroider--not just Disney and San Rio, but also designs I can upload with a memory stick. Personal use only. Want a good price, but a very good machine. What do you recommend?

[tknox @ Jul 7th 2007 11:43PM]

I am currently face with the dillema of which emboridery maching to purchase. viking se or the brother innovis 4000d. Any thoughts on which is a better machine to own?

[tknox @ Jul 7th 2007 11:52PM]

which serger is better the babylock with the air jet or the viking 936????

[tknox @ Jul 7th 2007 11:58PM]

The last question, is digitizing software necessary to purchase right away or is it something that can wait?

[tknox @ Jul 8th 2007 7:48AM]

ok ladies and gentlemen don't be shy :-)

[tknox @ Jul 9th 2007 12:46AM]

[e-mail]

[tknox @ Jul 9th 2007 12:59AM]

wrong email please disregard.

[tknox @ Jul 9th 2007 12:59AM]

wrong email please disregard.