Next month I'm going to spend several weeks with my son and DIL to wait for the arrival of their little one. While waiting I thought I could get some baby sewing done but my DIL doesn't have a machine. She would like to learn to sew so I thought I could buy an inexpensive one (from Amazon, maybe?) and teach her while I'm there. I imagine I'll be spending lots of time at their house over the years so it would be great if they had a machine I could use to help pass any down time. They live too far away to take my own so buying one is really my only option.

Can you suggest the best (in your opinion) least expensive option out there? Thanks!

I had a Brother a few years back. Bought new for just over $200. It was a really good and nice machine.

I have the Brother PC420PRW- bought one at Amazon for just under $400 8 years ago. When it bit the dust last year after many hours of sewing each week and often using upholstery fabric and threads, etc. I bought another one. The second one came from Home Depot last Oct. when they were having a sale on them. It was $320 + $15 or $16 for shipping. Home Depot and Amazon have very good return policies, but I would still take it out of the box and make sure everything works on it as soon as you get it just to make sure.

Lots of folks also like the Eversewn machines which I think can also be found on Amazon.

Rob

Costco has an offer right now on a Brother, one of the board members bought it and decided it wasn't for her, but not a bad deal at all. Here's that thread:
Brother XR3340 Sewing/Quilting Machine from Costco

Personally, I love vintage machines and do almost all of my sewing on one. They are heavy though. Having said that, a friend of mine is giving me her used but not vintage Bernina and maybe once I dip into the joy of modern equipment I won't look back -- her's is heavy too, so I'll still keep my lightweight Brother around for taking to places. Maybe check out your local Craig's List and/or the one by your kids, lots of good deals on working machines that just aren't used any more. I typically don't pay more than $20-40 including having them in a stand. I used to clean/repair machines for a charity that connected recent refugees with machines.

I have this machine and honestly it is great for light to medium duty sewing. I personally do all my piecing and straight stitching on my vintage machines, but I also love applique. I use this machine now for applique only, but I did make two baby quilts, from start to finish including FMQ, on this machine. I didn't have any complaints. Just glad that now I have a vintage Singer with 7" throat for FMQ! It was a bit tricky on the Costco Brother.

Congratulations on the new Grandbaby!

I have an Eversewn Sparrow 25, which is about $330. The 15, which is a mechanical machine, can be purchased from a number of internet vendors for $150.

Eversewn is the best choice. I love my Sparrow 30. Almost all members of my guild now have an Eversewn for classes and retreats.

https://www.amazon.com/Janome-Crysta...sewing+machine

I'm about to grab one of these, I've had very good luck with Janome. I have an HD3000 and I love it but it's pretty pricey. I think this will be perfect for my kids and anyone else who needs something basic.

This is a machine that has been around a long time and many quilters have used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JQM1DE/

If you purchase from Amazon and make sure the item says "ships from and sold by Amazon.com", returns are very easy.

One thing I like about this machine is that it has the offset feather stitch -- meaning there is no center line running through the stitch. This type of stitch is easiest for machine binding of quilts as there is no need to worry about "wobbles" where the center line isn't exactly on the binding edge.

Walmart used to sell this machine and several others in the Brother line. Walmart is another place where you can easily return a machine if you try it out and don't like it.

I have a little Necchi Travel Mate TM8 that I bought in 2015 for $280 from a local sewing machine shop. It has truly been a great little machine. Necchi is part of the Janome sewing machine line and it has held up to Janome's reputation. It is sturdy, easy to operate and is not heavy. It has a needle threader, a few decorative stitches, blind stitch hemmming capability and of course a zig zag stitch. At the turn of a dial, you have a wide selection of stitches. It's a great machine and easy to take places and easy to learn.