I begin teaching my niece to sew when she was 7. She's 32 now, and along with working full time; going to college, and raising two children, she wants to sew again. Before she buys some plastic doo-dad; I hope to find her a primed-and-ready Singer 201. When she's up to snuff with that, she can then get herself what ever she wants.
This last Christmas she made the cutest doggie-themed stockings, all by hand, for some friends.