A basic sewing machine is all you need until you get into the fancy stuff, you might want to look for features like needle down, drop feed dogs, adjustable stitch width and length, generous harp space right of the needle, pivoting, adjustable presser foot pressure and height, thread cutters, but you can get a simple machine with some of these features even from walmart, until you are sure you want to invest the money on a higher end machine. I sew on my brother SQ-9050 all the time that I got from walmart, unless I am quilting a huge quilt it suits all my piecing needs and only cost me 180, 200 without the rebate now, and I tell you makes more beautiful buttonholes than some of the higher end janomes, huskies, and other models in my class. The SQ has drop feed, needle down, adjustable stitch width length, some nice features for the price