Before buying an embroidery machine, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!  Investigate and imagine the embroidery designs you might like and also the types of articles you wish to embroider on. Most of this informtaion is available on the internet, but you also must go to different sewing shops and see for yourself the amenities you like.  For embroidery on sweatshirts, tee shirts, towels, kids clothing etc. all require the home sewer to have a knowledge base. There are several makes and manufactureers of stabilizer, and you need to know which goes with which to make your projects successful. Then there is the matter of thread, rayon or polyester?   Also many of the new machines require some knowledge of computers due to the many  software accessories that are available. Finally, do you wish to have a combination sewing/embroidery machine? This certainly makes traveling to classes a lot simpler. Although if you like to sew and embroider at the same time, then two machines are necessary. Hope this helps all you potential home embroiderers.