Originally Posted by mama's place
There's a Kenmore that is highly rated that sells for a little under $200 and then the next one up is about $300. They are made by Janome and sew really well. Mine doesn't want to do FMQuilting but then she wouldn't need that sounds like.
I think I have that Kenmore (cost around $200). It isn't as sturdy as my older Kenmore was (wish I hadn't gotten rid of it, now), but it works for what I use it for, which is quilting and clothing. I haven't had any problems sewing with denim, which I do pretty often. And I do some FMQ. I haven't tried that on any other machine to compare, but it seems to do fine to me. The owner of our LQS uses Kenmores exclusively.