
Quote from ranrnic : Unfortunately the SE400 doesn't work that way, you're still constrained to being within a 4x4 area. I've had one for at least a couple years and the SE400 is a nice machine but I have found myself wanting a larger embroidery area from time to time. I mainly use mine for sports stuff like coaches polos, gym bags, hats and things of that sort. Just would be nice to do something larger than 4x4.
I felt this way with the machine as well. A larger area would be really nice in some instances. It is still a fantastic machine though and if I were to pick up another embroidery machine I don't think i'd part with the se400, I like it that much.There are hoops you can get that increase the working size vertically. Not a 5x7 hoop, but a hoop that's 4x6 or 4x8. It's kind of weird how it works and is only useful for designs that have space between the design.
Basically there are two mounting points on the hoop where it connects to the machine, the bottom connection point gives access to the bottom 4x4 area of the hoop, the bottom half of the 4x8 design, then you shift the hoop to the upper connection point giving you access to the top 4x4 area and you load the design for the upper half of what you're embroidering. It's not perfect but it works decently well, and you need software that can split the design.
Here's a picture because i'm probably terrible at describing what I mean. It's the hoop all the way to the left.