What is the Janome Memory Craft 500E?

The Janome Memory Craft 500E is a premium embroidery-only machine with a 7.9 inch by 11 inch maximum embroidery field. It has 160 built-in designs, comes with 4 hoops, and uses Janome's JEF file format. It is sold through authorized Janome dealers rather than box stores or Amazon, typically priced around $2,399 and up.

How does the Janome MC500E field compare to the Brother PE900?

The MC500E's 7.9x11 inch field gives approximately 86.9 square inches of usable area. The Brother PE900's 5x7 field gives approximately 35 square inches. The MC500E provides roughly 2.5 times the embroidery area, which matters for designs wider than 5 inches or taller than 7 inches. It is also priced more than twice what the PE900 costs.

What file format does the Janome Memory Craft 500E use?

The MC500E uses Janome's JEF format as its native format. It does not natively read Brother's PES format. Embroiderers switching from a Brother machine or buying designs formatted for PES need conversion software (Hatch Embroidery, Embrilliance Essentials) to convert files before running them on the MC500E.

What is the difference between the Janome MC500E and MC550E?

The MC550E is the larger model. The MC500E has a 7.9x11 inch maximum field and 160 built-in designs. The MC550E has a 7.9x14.2 inch field and 180 designs, with a maximum embroidery speed of 860 stitches per minute. Both are sold at authorized Janome dealers. The MC550E costs more and opens even larger design formats.

Where can I buy the Janome Memory Craft 500E?

The MC500E is sold through authorized Janome dealers, not through Amazon or box-store retail channels like the Brother PE900. Authorized dealers include Village Sewing Center, Aurora Sewing Center, and Sewing Machines Plus. Pricing verified at $2,399 and up at authorized dealers, June 2026. Check janome.com/dealer-locator for local authorized dealers.

Janome Memory Craft 500E Review: 7.9x11 Embroidery Field

The Janome Memory Craft 500E is an embroidery-only machine with a 7.9 inch by 11 inch maximum field, priced around $2,399 at authorized dealers (verified June 2026). It is not a Brother competitor in the home machine market. It is the machine serious embroiderers move to after maxing out what a 5x7 field can hold.

The 86.9 square inch usable area on the MC500E is roughly 2.5 times the 35 square inches available on the Brother PE900’s 5x7 field. For most home embroiderers, the PE900 is enough. For the buyer who is consistently running designs in the 6 to 10 inch range, the Janome’s field opens territory that no Brother home machine touches.

Specs at a glance

Spec	MC500E
Machine type	Embroidery-only
Max embroidery area	7.9” x 11”
Embroidery area (sq in)	~86.9 sq in
Built-in designs	160
Included hoops	4
Native file format	JEF
Embroidery speed	Varies by design complexity
Dealer channel	Authorized Janome dealers only
Approximate retail	$2,399+ (verified June 2026)

Specs sourced from authorized Janome dealers (Village Sewing Center, Sewing Machines Plus), verified June 2026. Janome’s own product page was inaccessible at time of writing.

Field size in context: the area comparison

The field size difference between the MC500E and home-tier machines is not a minor upgrade. It is a different design category entirely.

Machine	Max field	Area (sq in)	Approx. retail
Brother SE700 (combo)	4x4	16	$579.99
Brother PE900	5x7	35	$1,179.99
Janome MC500E	7.9x11	~87	$2,399+
Janome MC550E	7.9x14.2	~112	Higher

The MC500E costs more than twice the PE900 and gives nearly 2.5 times the embroidery area. On a cost-per-square-inch basis, the MC500E is actually a better value than the PE900 at its respective tier, for buyers who need the area.

Close-up of dense embroidery stitching showing satin stitch columns and fill areas on fabric — The MC500E's larger field does not change how individual stitch types work. Satin fill columns, running stitches, and underlay passes are the same at 7.9x11 as they are at 4x4. The field just allows more of them in a single hooping, which matters for complex designs that cannot be split across multiple hoops. *Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.*

What the larger field actually opens up

Most embroiderers working in a 4x4 or 5x7 field never feel the ceiling until a specific design type forces the issue. The MC500E’s 7.9x11 field is relevant when:

Large decorative panels. Table runner inserts, wall art pieces, and large quilt blocks that sit in the 6 to 10 inch range require a larger machine. The MC500E covers these without splitting the design across multiple hoopings.

Full towel designs. A large monogram or decorative border on a bath towel often needs 5 to 8 inches of horizontal space. The 500E handles this in a single pass.

Commercial-quantity small designs. For embroiderers running 50 to 100 small designs per week (left-chest logos, monograms, patches), the MC500E’s larger working surface and production-oriented design accommodate longer work sessions than home machines.

Large quilt blocks. Standard 8-inch and 10-inch quilt block patterns require a machine capable of reaching the full block in one hooping. The 5x7 field on the PE900 cannot reach an 8-inch block cleanly. The MC500E can.

The JEF format consideration

The MC500E uses Janome’s JEF format natively. It does not read Brother’s PES format without conversion.

For embroiderers already in the Janome ecosystem (buying from Janome-native design marketplaces or already owning JEF files), this is a non-issue. For embroiderers switching from a Brother machine with a library of PES files, every file needs conversion before it will run on the MC500E.

Conversion software handles this: Hatch Embroidery (from $699) converts PES to JEF as part of its full format support. Embrilliance Essentials ($139) reads and writes both formats. Neither tool preserves the original designer’s exact stitch settings perfectly, but clean designs with solid fills and defined outlines convert without visible quality loss. The embroidery file formats guide covers what data each format stores and what conversion actually drops.

Embroidered monogram letters on folded linen fabric showing precision stitching — Monogram work in the 4 to 6 inch range is where the MC500E separates from Brother's home line. The PE900 handles standard 3-letter monograms (2.5 to 3.5 inches). The MC500E handles oversized monograms on robes, towels, and large fabric panels that exceed what a 5x7 field can accommodate. *via Pexels. Pexels License.*

MC500E versus MC550E

Janome makes two machines at this field-size tier. The 500E and 550E share the same dealer channel and general quality tier but differ in field size:

Spec	MC500E	MC550E
Max field	7.9x11	7.9x14.2
Area (sq in)	~87	~112
Built-in designs	160	180
Max embroidery speed	Not specified	860 spm

The 550E opens roughly 25% more area than the 500E and costs more. For buyers who need the 7.9x14.2 inch field (long-format designs, table runner centerpieces, wide-border work), the 550E is the right machine. For buyers who need more than the PE900 but do not run designs over 9 to 10 inches wide, the 500E is sufficient.

Fabric hooped on a Janome-class embroidery machine — The MC500E's larger hoops and on-board editing are the reasons quilters and embroiderers step up to it. Output quality, as always, leans on hooping and stabilizer. *Wikimedia Commons via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.*

Dealer channel versus Amazon

The MC500E is not sold on Amazon. It is sold through authorized Janome dealers. This matters because:

Dealer pricing is set differently than Amazon pricing. The $2,399 price at Village Sewing Center reflects authorized dealer floor pricing, not the discounting common on Amazon for home machines.
Dealers typically include initial setup support and offer extended service plans.
Used and gray-market MC500E units do appear on Amazon and eBay. These may or may not come with warranty coverage depending on how the original unit was sold.

The comparison between the Brother PE900 (Amazon, $1,179.99) and the Janome MC500E (dealer, $2,399+) is not only a field-size comparison. It is also a channel and service comparison. The Janome vs. Brother embroidery guide covers the ecosystem differences in full.

Who should buy the MC500E

Buy the MC500E if you are consistently working with designs that exceed the 5x7 field, your budget supports the $2,399+ price, you prefer the Janome dealer experience over Amazon box-store purchase, or you are operating a small embroidery business that needs a larger working field without stepping up to multi-needle commercial machines.

Stay with the PE900 if your designs stay within 5x7, you want the lower price point and Amazon availability, or you are not yet sure whether the larger field is something you will actually use. The PE900 review covers what 5x7 opens up in practice.

A hand-held embroidered ornament showing detailed blue and white stitching — Ornament-scale work fits easily inside any embroidery machine's field. The MC500E's advantage appears at the larger design scale: pieces 6 to 11 inches wide that would require splitting across two separate hoopings on a 5x7 machine run in a single pass on the 500E. *Nathana Rebouças via Unsplash. Unsplash License.*

For a direct head-to-head between the PE900 and MC500E covering field-area-per-dollar and ecosystem comparison, the Brother PE900 vs. Janome 500E guide covers both machines side by side. For stabilizer requirements when using large hoops on the MC500E, the embroidery stabilizers guide covers which stabilizer weights handle the large-format field sizes.