Please don't feel cheap, I think it's wonderful of you to be buying a gift for a 26 year old niece. With all of our nieces and nephews we had to stop giving gifts when they became teenagers. I just purchased a brother machine for my grandson from walmart but could have gotten cheaper from Amazon. It got great reviews and has a top loading bobbin and an automatic threader. There is also a button hole attachment. My gut feeling is to take the machine back to walmart.
http://www.amazon.com/Brother-XL2600...ewing+machines