Hi, Welcome from Maryland. I am a devoted Bernina fan so I don't know much about the other machines. I have discovered that sewing garments, especially those with lightweight or sheer fabrics are harder on the machines that have the wider stitch capacity. Just yesterday I was working on some little dresses for a local charity project that required the armholes to be bound. The binding extended to make a strap that tied at the shoulder. I have a Bernina machine that also converts to an embroidery machine. The "feed dog" area is rather wide. The machine actually sucked the narrow binding I was using down into the bobbin area and chewed up the binding. While I love being able to do all kinds of decorative stitches with the machine it it is not nearly as stable when it comes to working on delicate fabrics. Many machines offer an alternate "throatplate", with just a small hole for the needle to pass through. I will have to look into getting one for my machine for when I just want to straight stitch, if they are available. My first thirty years of sewing that was the only kind of machine I had. You may love the decorative stitches for decorating garments for your child but for basic garment construction and quilt construction, the basic machine will do a good job.