I use ONLY a cast iron 1941 Singer "portable".....and love it. Weighs a ton but when I do manage to take it places, I love all of the great comments and the love that it gets from the other quilters. Having had this experience, I'd recommend getting a Featherweight. She'll be the envy of every class and it does what you need for classes, which is to sew a straight stitch and not mess up. (But----having read all of these posts, I will look at Janome Gems. Thanks for your post!)