Does a free-motion foot fit a Brother PE800, or not at all

Part of our guide on finding the right size hoop

Worth a look - check the spec on the listing first

Specs not listed

Brother SE1900 Sewing and Embroidery Machine

Replaces your PE800 with the same 5 x 7 in embroidery field but adds a full sewing side - 240 built-in sewing

Check the specs on Amazon

Specs not listed

Brother SE2000 Sewing and Embroidery Machine Computerized

Same 5 x 7 in field as the SE1900 plus jump-stitch trimming and wireless design transfer, with 241 sewing

Check the specs on Amazon

Specs not listed

Brother SE700 Sewing and Embroidery Machine

Cheapest combo that still gives you a real sewing mode - 103 built-in stitches - so you can drop the feed

Check the specs on Amazon

Free motion embroidery foot for Brother PE800: the short answer

A free-motion foot cannot change what the PE800 is. It sews nothing. Embroidery only, with fabric held in a hoop that moves under the needle. Free-motion quilting needs the opposite arrangement. The feed dogs must drop out of the way. Your hands must steer the fabric under a foot that hops clear between stitches. The PE800 was built without them. A foot cannot add a mechanism the machine never had.

That is the whole answer, and it saves you a wasted purchase. Feet sold as free-motion or darning feet are made for sewing machines with feed dogs and a sewing stitch. They still need the machine to stop feeding fabric. On the PE800, the fabric never feeds at all. The hoop does the moving. No foot changes that.

This page works from that limit instead of around it. You will see what free-motion work needs, what the PE800 does instead, and which feet only look like the answer. Then come the machines that do both jobs, in three budgets. Your designs and hoops carry over to the pick, ready to stitch.

What free-motion work needs: dropped feed dogs and a hopping foot

Feed dogs are the small teeth under the needle plate. They grip the fabric and push it forward a set distance with each stitch. That distance is your stitch length. In normal sewing they feed, and your hands only guide. Once the teeth drop below the plate, the fabric stops moving on its own. Your hands take over the steering. We go through machine for satin stitch step by step elsewhere on the site.

Its foot has to change too. A normal presser foot holds the fabric down the whole time, which would fight your hands. A free-motion foot is a spring foot. It rises with the needle bar after each stitch, so the cloth is free to move. Then it drops to hold the fabric for the next stitch. That hop is what stops the needle from lifting the fabric and skipping stitches. Without it, the stitches wander and break.

Your hands set the stitch length, so speed matters. Move the fabric slowly under a fast needle and the stitches crowd together. Move it fast under a slow needle and they stretch long and loose. Speed control helps, and a foot control lets you hold one pace. Some machines add stitch regulation, which evens the length for you. Steady hands and a slow start do the same job on a scrap sandwich first.

• Feed dogs down: the teeth drop below the plate so nothing moves the fabric but your hands.
• Hopping foot: a spring foot that lifts clear between stitches and holds the cloth for each stitch.
• Sewing stitch: a straight stitch the machine runs while you steer, plus steady speed control.

Specs not listed

Brother SE1900 Sewing and Embroidery Machine

Replaces your PE800 with the same 5 x 7 in embroidery field but adds a full sewing side - 240 built-in sewing stitches - so free-motion quilting is finally possible on this machine.

• Size Machine Only
• Height 11.54 inches
• Length 13.43 inches

Check the specs on Amazon

The PE800, checked: embroidery only, with no feed dogs at all

The PE800's own manual describes one job only. You pick a design, hoop the fabric with stabilizer, and press start. Under the needle, the hoop moves the fabric while the machine stitches. The manual lists 138 built-in designs and 11 lettering fonts. Its field measures 5 in by 7 in (12.7 cm by 17.8 cm), and its top speed is 650 stitches per minute. There is no sewing stitch menu, no buttonhole, and no feed-dog switch in its pages. If that sounds like your situation, read up on loading designs on Brother machines next.

Side by side, the gap shows up. The SE1900, the PE800's combo sister, has a set of feed dogs with a drop switch at the rear. The PE800 works a different way. Its needle plate carries the embroidery foot while the hoop does the moving. Feet that look like the answer belong to sewing machines. Brother's free-motion (darning/open-toe) feet fit low-shank sewing machines with feed dogs. Darning feet in big low-shank sets are the same.

In its own way, the PE800 still quilts. Quilting-style designs stitch inside the hoop, and you can reposition the hoop or split a design across two hoopings. The screen lets you rotate, resize, and mirror a design, then move it to the exact spot. That is machine embroidery that looks like quilting, not free-motion quilting, where your hands move the fabric and the stitch follows. There is no separate free-motion embroidery foot for hoop work: the hoop moves the fabric, so the embroidery foot only holds it flat.

1. Open Brother's PE800 support page and find its accessory list.
2. Read the included accessories list in the operation manual.
3. Match the foot's part code against that list.
4. If the code is not listed for the PE800, do not buy the foot.

Specs not listed

Brother SE2000 Sewing and Embroidery Machine Computerized

Same 5 x 7 in field as the SE1900 plus jump-stitch trimming and wireless design transfer, with 241 sewing stitches so drop-feed free-motion work is built in.

• Weight 38.0 pounds
• Width 9.48 inches
• Height 11.81 inches

Check the specs on Amazon

No foot can teach the PE800 free-motion quilting. The machine was never built to do it.

The pick: Brother SE1900, the same hoop with a sewing mode

As the PE800's combo twin, the SE1900 is the pick. It carries the same hoop size, and Brother lists the same 138 built-in designs. It adds 240 sewing stitches and a set of feed dogs, with a drop switch at the rear. A knee lifter comes in the box. Check the in-box accessory list; on many bundles the free-motion foot is not included, so budget for one with the machine.

Sharing the hoop is why it wins. Your designs and hoops transfer, and you keep one machine on the bench instead of two. Its honest limit is the foot, which many bundles leave out. The design is also older, with no wireless transfer, so designs still travel by USB stick. I would buy the SE1900 first if I owned a PE800 and wanted to quilt by hand-guided stitching. No smaller change adds the missing skill.

Free-motion work on the SE1900 follows the manual's own order. Slide the feed-dog switch to drop the teeth, fit foot O, and set the machine to free-motion mode. Test on a scrap sandwich of top, batting, and backing before the real quilt. Start with a fresh needle, re-thread with the presser foot up, and clear lint from the hook area. If stitches skip on the scrap, change the needle first. That cheap fix solves most skipped stitches.

You'll also need

Brother Free Motion Quilting Foot SA129 Clear

The combo machines ship without a free-motion foot; this clear spring-action SA129 is the one that lets you stipple and quilt once the feed dogs are down.

Get the one that fits

The upgrade: Brother SE2000, wireless designs and cleaner trimming

One step newer, the SE2000 is the same idea. Both the field size and the feed-dog drop stay. Brother lists 193 built-in designs and 241 sewing stitches for this model. Its extras are wireless transfer through Brother's Artspira app and jump-stitch trimming that cuts thread tails. Both save time when you embroider often. Neither changes a single free-motion stitch. Quilting on it matches the pick stitch for stitch.

Read the table as a filter, not a ranking. Every machine here clears the threshold: one feed-dog drop switch. Hoop size is what splits them. With the larger field, chest emblems and tote monograms fit the way the PE800 already handles them. With the smaller field, small motifs and monograms fit, and anything bigger must be split across hoopings. Pick the field that matches the work you already do.

For one reader, the upgrade is wrong: the quilter who only wants free-motion work. Extra money here buys embroidery ease, not better quilting. Yet the SE1900 drops the same feed dogs and takes the same feet. Spend the difference on the free-motion foot, a walking foot, and good batting, and your quilts will show it.

The budget pick: Brother SE700, smaller hoop, same free-motion trick

At the budget end, the SE700 is the pick, and the trade is plain. Brother lists 135 built-in designs and 103 sewing stitches for this model, with a feed-dog drop switch for free-motion quilting. Its hoop is 4 in by 4 in (10.2 cm by 10.2 cm). Small motifs, labels, and pocket designs fit in one hooping. Jacket backs and large monograms must be split and re-hooped by eye. That is slow work, and it shows on big pieces.

Choose by the quilting you do, not the embroidery you dream of. Big quilts need the larger field and room to move the sandwich. Small gifts and first quilts fit the SE700, and its lower cost leaves money for the foot. A cheap sewing-only machine beside the PE800 costs less than any combo, but then you store two machines and move designs by hand. If you only embroider, buy nothing at all. Your PE800 already does that job well. The Sewing Machine Matchmaker here asks four questions and points to the machine type that fits your sewing.

Before you buy, get the foot with the machine so the first test run is a real one. Test on scraps, change the needle first when stitches skip, and keep the PE800 for the embroidery it was built to do. Two machines that each do one job well beat one machine asked to do a job it cannot.

Still wondering?

I would keep the PE800 for embroidery and let the SE1900 do the quilting.