I have a Bernina 1530 and bought it mainly for sewing clothes. I am now using it to make quilts and love it. It even slipped off the table onto a concrete floor during a quilting class and kept right on sewing. I also have a Wal-Mart Brothers SQ 9000 that I bought to take to classes from now on and it works well. Less than $200, So for a basic learning machine I would go enexpensive with a good straight stitch until she knows what she wants in a machine.
Last edited by grandme26; 11-20-2011 at 11:54 AM.