I notice you are in Goshen, IN, which is where my cousin also lives. I would suggest you visit Erika's in South Bend and discuss this with her or another dealer in your area. I have 4 Featherweights that I use primarily for straight sewing at workshops and retreats. The novelty of sewing on one plus the convenience of its portability is the draw. They weigh only 12 pounds.
I would not want this to be my only machine. I also have a Janome 6600, which is a pretty expensive machine for a beginner. I highly recommend the Janome brand name and they have several reasonably priced sewing machines that would have a few more basic stitches that would be very useful. My Janome dealer allows me to trade whatever machine I have purchased on a new machine within one year for full price trade in value. I started out with a very basic simple machine when I first began quilting 4 years ago. I have traded up twice.
I don't know what investment you have in mind, but I feel sure you would be able to find a Janome in your price range. The Janome 3160 is called The Quilter's Dream. It would be a great beginner machine. The stitches I use most often are straight stitch, which I enjoy being able to lengthen or shorten as needed, the zig zag for mending, and the blanket stitch for applique. The others are nice, but I seldom use them. Those are three basic ones for me.
If you do decide to buy a Featherweight, be sure to spend some time researching and reading about them. You can Google "Care of Featherweight sewing machines," and get good information. In addition to the machine, you usually have to buy attachments because they're not often included in the original purchase.