Just sawn an online from joann fab...special Janome sewing machine.......don't know much about that brand, but this one looked good...not too fancy but a good starter upper.......price was $200+, might be a possible......although in my mind 8 and 11 is still a bit young for personal sewing machines????? JMHO

My grand daughters share a Singer 99 - actually I think it is a Spartan. It is very inexpensive compared to a FW and easy to use. It is still cute. They have to take care of it and they can sew what ever they want. They just aren't ready for anything more complicated at this point. I'm sure when they are ready they can easily be up graded to a Singer 500 or something else totally cool. Getting them something older is more responsible of our earth's assets than buying a plastic throw away machine. Just my 2 cents.

I bought a Janome Harmony $89.00 (recommended by dealer) for my 5 year old granddaughter. But I have a Brother 6000i for $189.00 that I sew on all the time and she and her brother (9) likes to sew on it, too. Some great features with just enough not to confuse or intimidate them.

I personally prefer Brothers!