My first sewing machine was a Singer touch and sew. It along with the cabinet was $66, in 1967, I was 12. My grandpa gave me $20 to put down on it and then I babysat to make the $6 a week payment, that was 12 hours of babysitting a week at 50¢ an hour. I got an A- on my dress that was made in Home Ec and that was what started me on sewing clothing. Both my grandmothers sewed. Then it skipped a generation and I got the gene. I now have Janome's but back then, a Singer was a well-built and designed machine. Nothing like the throwaways of today.