My Bernina was made in Switzerland.

I have the little Janome. I think I paid about $150 for the machine and a carrying case. My only complaint is the foot petal. It doesn't always start the machine when you press it. You have to tap it a few times. That doesn't happen with my more expensive machines. I've never read a complaint like this and wonder if I'm the only one who is bothered by this. Other than that problem, the machine has many stitches and even came with a 1/4" foot. It is very light weight and I bought it for classes, but don't use it for that (the foot petal problem). Does anyone else have this problem? It makes it hard for youngsters to use.
Sue

Ebay has one of the Kenmore Ultra Mini like my blue one for $68.99 with free shipping.

The Brother cs 6000i is now $137 at Walmart.com and can be ordered and picked up at your nearby store. I have one and Love it. And, it's lightweight enough to cary to classes and has a hard-sided cover.

I recently brought an Kenmore Elite at estate sale for $40... Came with a med size tote of threads (new!), lots of stabilizer,new tools and having fun with it! It also has tons of stitches and embroidered alphabets. Of course my favorite is FW firstly...

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She paid about $80 for it (about 1 1/2 years ago), and the timing was off. I took the needle plate off to see what timing setting was off, and the thing had a plastic hook!!!! I told her to throw it away, it wasn't worth fixing.

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I'd say she got her $80 dollars worth for a 1 1/2 years of sewing. :) One of my guild members buys a $100 or less sales sewing machine, sews it to the ground and then buys another, usually every couple of years. In ten years she hasn't spent much over $500 and has a new machine to sew on. No big investment, no feeling heartsick if the machine bites the dust or needs a major repair.

Wow, ya mean I might have a blanket stitch and didn't know it! Gotta go searching...... thanks!