>>42294372
Sorry, I've been busy with mare fair prep.
I really like my dedicated embroidery machine because I can sew while it works. The quality of my used Janome 550e's work is drastically better than my brother SE600 too. A lot of annoying embroidery problems just vanished when I made the switch.
The brother SE600 and newer variants are a good all-in-one solution to start you off, but I jumped to a better embroiderer as quick as I could. Combo machines come at a premium and my SE600 can sew regular stitches well enough.

>Any materials, resources, and info is much appreciated.
Shannon minky cuddle 3 is the current gold standard for plush, but you need to use a lot of pins. Amazon is now full of bad knockoffs and half the colors. Howl fabric can be slow but they have the best selection (when in stock)
Use a triple stretch stitch on high strain areas.
Making a pattern from scratch is difficult but just work on one part at a time and build off failures. It took me 3 months and countless failures.
I can set you up with some embroidery tools if you contact me on twitter, DA, or discord.