My grandfather bought machines for my mom and aunt in the 40's and my mom always swore by Singers. My niece has Mom's and it's still going strong. So when I was going to buy a new one a few years ago naturally I got a Singer. It skipped stitches and basically was just a piece of crap. I gave it away on Freecycle with full disclosure, wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if I had sold it.