Opinions please..
 

My husband would like to get his mother a sewing/embroidery machine for her birthday and asked me to ask the members on my quilting board what machines were their favorites. She is a terrific lady so I want to make sure he gets her a nice one. He is on a budget, $500-$1000,(his sisters are going to chip in). She is in her 70's and sews like a maniac, so I want to find something that will give her a lot of stitch variations and hopefully will last her for another 20 years ( I say this because her father will be 102 years old this September) so I figure she will outlive me..lol

How kind of your husband and his sisters.

For someone who sews like a maniac (love it!!!)............. I would not do a surprise gift.

What you might choose, may be a long way from what she would really like to have. She's an experienced sewist, so will already have the knowledge as to what she wants ... and if not, will have fun in checking out all the brands, models and features, to get what she really wants.

Just be sure that you encourage her to not limit her choices ... and perhaps go for a step or two above, what she thinks she might ever need or want.

You could have fun with this, by wrapping up a toy sewing machine with a note from all who are contributing as a gift certificate for her ... treating her like Queen for a Day!!

I'm sure she will appreciate making the selection ... rather than having something delivered, that perhaps is far from what she has always dreamed of owning, and feeling as though Mom should stay mum on any disappointments she might have! :)

I like QuiltE's suggestion. A gift certificate to let her choose a machine and lunch for the Queen of the Day!

I think the thought is wonderful. I think she should be given the option of getting a new machine - and having some say in what she gets - or maybe there is something else in the same price range that she wants/needs more.

However, some of us 'older' people really are quite happy with our older machines - and we don't WANT to struggle with learning something new.

Or maybe she is a vintage machine enthusiast?

QuiltE is right on! Go with that idea...and if she doesn't want an embroidery machine, which is a possibility as bearisgray says, then she can figure out what she does want that would be comparable. When one is 70 or so, choice should be available! :-)

I would get the family together, take Mom for a surprise drive, ending up at the machine store, with the rest of the family meeting her there, give her her price limit and let her pick it out. It is like buying a purse, don't know if you will like it, until you use it.

I hate to disappointment anyone but I am not sure you can get a really nice new sewing/embroidery machine for $1000 , I think mine was over $6000 and that has been several years ago. But a Brother is a really good machine.

I have to agree with everyone else. Let her have a say in the decision making process. All of us who have machines especially after we've been sewing for a while know what features we'd like to have that we may not have currently because they either didn't exist at the time or we didn't know about them. This is her time to be able to indulge. I think anyone who is getting a machine, especially when its emb too, should make sure they like the store where they are getting it and how the customer service, the classes and just good old support is. I've been sewing for tons of yrs but when I went high tech on my machine, my LQS held classes just on the features of the sewing part of my machine and the two more classes just on the emb part. I was surprised at what I could do on my machine. I never seen alot of this stuff in the manuals and never would have known about the features without the stores classes. What good is it to have a great machine if you don't know about all of its features. This is a really nice thing you all are doing for her and I'm sure she'll enjoy it alot but do let her have a say so in what she'd want for a machine. If nothing else, try and take the opportunity to have a discussion in general about machines, including emb and see if she mentions any certain one. She may already have one she'd like but can't afford.

My husband surprised me with a sewing/embroidery machine several years ago. He paid over $1000.00 for it and it wasn't what I wanted. Never used it much. I finally saved enough money and bought the one I wanted and my daughter now has the one my husband bought.

............... and please do not let her feel pressured to purchase that day!!

The day one objective might merely be for her to do some test drives ... and take home the brochures to compare features and consider what she wants. If she has been using her machine for a long time, she may not know what all exists out there ... and may not have been keeping eyes on the updates.

She'll want to purchase wisely, especially when spending your money! And too, perhaps an embroidery machine will not be what she wants. She might be happier for a better sewing machine she has, and with the newer features, etc.