How to use a Brother embroidery machine: your first project

To use a Brother embroidery machine, fit the embroidery foot and a 75/11 needle, attach the embroidery unit, install the bobbin, hoop fabric with stabilizer and clip the hoop on. Then pick a design from the built-in list, USB or Wi-Fi, check its position, thread the first color and press Start/Stop. The machine stops after each color so you can change the thread. These steps follow Brother's SE700 manual; other Brother models work in a similar order, but key names and some steps differ.

A Brother embroidery machine stitches the design for you, but you set it up the same way every time: foot and needle, embroidery unit, bobbin, hooped fabric, design, then the top thread. This guide walks through one small first project in that order.

The steps are based on Brother’s operation manual for the SE700, which also covers the SE725 and LB5500, plus Brother’s Artspira quick guide. Other Brother models follow a similar order, but screens, key names and some steps differ, so keep your own manual open. This site is not affiliated with Brother.

What to gather first

Practice fabric. A scrap of plain woven cotton, larger than the hoop. Brother says fabric thicker than 1/16 in (2 mm) can break the needle.
Stabilizer. A piece larger than the hoop. Brother’s manual uses iron-on (fusible) stabilizer.
A 75/11 needle. Brother calls for a 75/11 home sewing machine needle for embroidery. Our needle guide explains sizes.
Embroidery thread. Brother says to use thread intended for the machine, never 20 weight or lower. See our thread guide.
Bobbin thread. 60 weight embroidery bobbin thread. The SE700 box includes three pre-wound embroidery bobbins.
The hoop and screwdriver supplied. The SE700’s hoop is 4 × 4 in (100 × 100 mm).

Clear the table around the machine, because anything in the hoop’s path can knock the design out of line. Do not let big garments hang off the table.

1. Fit the embroidery foot and check the needle

Press the needle position button to raise the needle, then touch the key that locks the screen. This stops a stray press starting the machine.
Remove the presser foot and its holder. Fit the embroidery foot (foot Q on the SE700), pressing its lever as you seat it above the needle clamp screw.
Tighten the holder screw with the screwdriver and check the foot hangs straight.

Brother warns that another foot, or a loose screw, can let the needle strike the foot and break. Confirm the needle is 75/11 while you are there.

2. Attach the embroidery unit

On a sewing-and-embroidery combo like the SE700:

Turn the machine off. Pull the flat bed attachment off to the left.
Push the unit’s connector into the port until it clicks, with no gap.
Turn the machine on, make sure nothing is near the carriage, and touch OK. The carriage moves to its start position.

Never push or lift the carriage, touch the connector pins or carry the machine with the unit on. If your machine is embroidery-only with no removable unit, skip this step.

3. Wind and install the bobbin

A pre-wound embroidery bobbin lets you skip winding. To wind your own:

Seat the bobbin on the winder shaft and slide the shaft right until it clicks.
Put the spool on the pin so the thread leaves from the bottom toward you, and add the spool cap.
Take the thread under the thread guide hook and cover to the front, under the bobbin winding guide hook, then counterclockwise under the pretension disk. Wind the end clockwise around the bobbin five or six times.
Pass the end through the slit in the winder seat and pull to cut it on the built-in cutter. Brother says skipping this can tangle the bobbin or break the needle later.
Press Start/Stop. When winding slows, stop, cut the thread and slide the shaft back.

To install it, raise the needle, lock the screen, raise the presser foot lever and remove the bobbin cover. Drop the bobbin in so the thread unwinds to the left, hold it down, guide the thread around the tab and through the slit, cut it and replace the cover.

4. Hoop the fabric with stabilizer

Iron the stabilizer to the wrong side of the fabric, extending past the hoop on every side.
Loosen the hoop screw and separate the rings. Set the outer ring flat, lay the fabric and stabilizer on it right side up, then press the inner ring in, lining up the marks on the two rings.
Tighten the screw by hand just enough to hold the fabric. Gently lift the fabric out without loosening the screw, then press it and the inner ring back in, lining up the marks again.
Tighten the screw while smoothing out any slack by hand, then tap the fabric. Brother wants a drum-like sound, taut but not stretched. A sewing dealer’s hooping guide warns that pulling hard after the inner ring is in creates waves in the fabric.

Our hooping guide goes further, and the stabilizer guide helps you choose.

Fabric	Stabilizer idea
Stable woven fabric	Iron-on (Brother’s manual) or tear-away (the sewing dealer’s guide)
Knits and t-shirts	Cut-away, as the sewing dealer’s guide advises for knits
Thin fabric such as organdy or lawn	Water-soluble
Terry towels	Water-soluble on top of the pile. Terry cannot be ironed, so lay stabilizer under it without fusing (Brother)

5. Clip the hoop onto the carriage

Fit the bobbin first, then:

Raise the presser foot lever.
Slide the hoop under the foot and line up its guide tabs with the slots in the carriage frame holder.
Push down until it clicks.

An unseated hoop can let the foot hit the frame, so wait for the click.

6. Load a design

Source	How	Notes
Built-in	Pick a category on the pattern type screen, then a design.	The machine shows which hoops fit.
USB	Put a flash drive in the USB port, touch the USB key, open its folder if needed, pick the file.	The SE700 reads .pes, .phc, .dst and .pen. Some drives are refused. See USB not reading.
Wi-Fi from a PC	Turn on wireless LAN in settings, run the wizard, pick your network and enter its password. Send files with Brother’s Design Database Transfer, a Windows program.	The machine’s Wi-Fi uses 2.4 GHz and cannot join WPA/WPA2 Enterprise networks. Designs sent this way vanish when the machine is turned off unless you save them to its memory.
Artspira app	Install Brother Artspira, log in, add your machine, pick or create a design and tap Transfer. Then open it from the machine’s pattern type screen.	One design waits on the server at a time and is deleted after a while. Machine software must be up to date. See our Artspira guide.

Put nothing but a flash drive in the USB port. A design with no thread data, such as .dst, shows in the machine’s default colors, so check the preview.

After you pick a design, the screen shows which hoops can be used. If the “Embroidery Frame Identification View” setting is on, designs that will not fit the hoop appear shaded and cannot be picked. Move, rotate or resize the design, then use the position check, where the carriage moves to show where it will land. The needle must be up whenever the hoop moves.

7. Thread the upper thread with the first color

Brother’s manual leaves threading until last, once the design is on screen, because the first color depends on the design. Check the color order on the screen, then:

Raise the needle fully, or the needle threader will not work. Lock the screen and raise the presser foot lever.
Put the spool on the pin, thread unwinding from the bottom toward you, with a spool cap that fits the spool.
Follow the path shown in the manual: thread guide, thread channel, take-up lever, behind the needle bar thread guide, then the guide disk marked 7.
Lower the presser foot, cut the thread at the left cutter, push the needle threader lever down, then let it up slowly.
Raise the foot and unlock the screen. The thread then goes through the hole in the embroidery foot (see the next section).

The threader suits 75/11 to 100/16 needles. For clear nylon or specialty thread, thread the eye by hand.

8. Stitch and change colors

With the first color threaded, raise the presser foot, pass the thread through the hole in the embroidery foot and hold it loosely with some slack.
Lower the foot and press Start/Stop. After five or six stitches, press it again to stop.
Trim the thread tail close to the fabric. Left in place, it gets stitched over.
Press Start/Stop to continue. The machine stops after each color, and it cuts the thread automatically unless you turned that off.
Take the old thread out, thread the next color the same way, pass it through the foot hole, lower the foot and press Start/Stop. A message tells you when the last color is done.

If the thread breaks or the bobbin runs out, stop, rethread or fit a fresh bobbin, then use the stitch-back keys to move the needle a few stitches before the break and restart. If you turn the machine off mid-design, it remembers the color and stitch number. Repeated breaks have their own thread breaking guide.

9. Finish the project

Raise the presser foot lever, press the carriage frame holder to the left and lift the hoop out under the foot.
Take the fabric out of the hoop and trim thread tails and jump stitches.
Remove the stabilizer carefully. Brother says water-soluble stabilizer dissolves completely in water.

To go back to sewing, remove the hoop, touch the carriage removal key, turn the machine off, hold the release button on the unit and slide it to the left.

Fixing common first-project problems

What you see	What to try
Bobbin thread shows on top	Top thread too tight. Lower the tension number a little. Brother says to keep the dial between 2 and 6 for embroidery.
Loose stitches or slack top thread	Raise the tension number a little. If it will not settle, Brother says to set the dial to 4, rethread the top and reseat the bobbin.
Needle breaks	Check the fabric is under 1/16 in (2 mm), you used the embroidery foot, its screw is tight, the hoop suits the design and there is stabilizer.
App design does not appear	Wrong machine picked in the app, the data expired, or the machine software is out of date.

Stitch a short trial on scrap fabric before you put a real shirt in the hoop.

Frequently asked questions

How do I use a Brother SE700 for the first time?

Brother's SE700 manual sets out this order: attach embroidery foot Q, check you have a 75/11 needle, attach the embroidery unit, wind and fit the bobbin, hoop stabilized fabric, clip the hoop on, pick a design, check its position and thread the first color. Then press Start/Stop.

Can I use any thread in a Brother embroidery machine?

Brother says to use embroidery thread intended for the machine, and 60 weight embroidery thread in the bobbin. Never use thread of weight 20 or lower, because it can make the machine malfunction.

Do I always need stabilizer?

Yes. Brother's manual says to always use stabilizer for embroidery, and it is required on stretchy, lightweight or coarse-weave fabric. Brother warns the needle may break without it.

How do designs get onto a Brother embroidery machine?

Pick a built-in design, load a file from a USB flash drive, or send one over Wi-Fi with Brother's Design Database Transfer program (Windows) or the Artspira app. Wi-Fi works only on models with wireless LAN, and some models take USB only.

Can I sew and embroider at the same time on a combo machine?

No, it does one job at a time. On the SE700, Brother's manual says utility stitches cannot be selected while the embroidery unit is attached, so you remove the unit to sew. Some other Brother models do allow it (one Brother online manual says so), so check your own manual.