I own a Janome Gem and heartily support that machine - 12 pounds, does everything,etc. ANother reason to consider the Janome is that the feet she already has for the larger Janome should fit the smaller one - so there's no reason to buy all the extra feet unless you/she decides to have a duplicate set. Elna machines use the same feet as Janome, but I don't know if they have a light weight machine.