Don't feel badly about your inexpensive Brother machine. If it sews the stitches you need for the class, then you are fine. I know the feeling though. For years I went to a week-long sewing conference. Almost everyone there had Husqvarna-Viking machines. They looked down on my Bernina Artists 200 and it probably cost more than most of their machines. I love my Bernina and I got over the others looking down on it. At the last conference, I did notice that several people had newer model Berninas and one person even had an Elna so I wasn't alone anymore.