Ellietow

I bought my old Kenmore about 33 years ago, and sewed happily on it until I started quilting. It has bells an whistles, e.g. cams to sew fancy designs (duckies, etc) - I think I spent $400 on it, back then! When I started quilting, I bought a walking foot for it, but I could not find a darning foot for a super high shank machine. Since I wanted to FMQ, I ended up buying another machine about 5 years ago, keeping this one as a backup.

My niece wanted to learn to sew, so I thought I could pass on my old machine to her, BUT, when we started up the machine, it wouldn't sew correctly - it got stuck! Two sewing machine repairmen have looked at the machine, and both say that it's a broken gear, and that it would be "prohibitive" to fix - hard to get into the part, and both suggested getting a new machine. (My sister-in-law is actually the one who brought the machine in, and so I don't know what "prohibitive" means in terms of $ amount).

Any thoughts? I guess I have some sentimental ties to this machine, and feel that I spent a lot of $ on it, back then. Also, it's heavy duty, all metal parts, so I know it's sturdy. I'd appreciate your feedback.

Thanks.