I am looking for a lightweight, but reliable, portable sewing machine of reasonable quality (and reasonable price) to use while traveling. I have a wonderful Bernina 440 which I use for my major quilting projects, but would love to have something to for piecing and routine sewing when I have to be away from home. I'm traveling by auto, so I don't need to check it on a plane or anything like that, and will likely have it set up in one place for a few weeks at a time. Any suggestions? What have you used and liked--or what to steer away from? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I find my feather weight and 301 to be very portable.

I love my Janome Jem Platinum...they have a couple of other similar ones..Gold I think is one. It weighs only 12 pounds, you can drop the feed dogs, it has several basic decorative stitches, does buttonholes (in case you ever want to put one in a quilt LOL), needle up/down, lock stitch, and it even has a start/stop button in case you ever want or need to sew without the foot pedal. I've had it for about 4 years and don't travel without it. It is made by the same company that makes the Elna, and since I have an Elna for my big machine, all my attachments can be traded between my machines. It also takes the cardboard pre-wounds bobbins, which is a plus for me. Not sure what the going rate is for these, but I got a deal on mine for $300. May even be some reconditioned ones out there now.

A FW would be perfect.

If you can't find a featherweight, try looking at the Janome line. They have some reasonable machines and some of them come with a 'hard' case which is great for travel. I don't find them to be heavy to carry either. They're just great workhorses.

Brothers aren't bad. They come in a variety of price points, are lightweight, won't discombouber during travel and sew an even stitch (from my experience). They are easy to use and will hold up in "normal" use.

While it's true the Featherweight is true to its name it sure isn't cheap! They are selling for big bucks.

This summer I bought a very basic Brother at Wal-Mart for $89CND (since our dollar is at par with the US it's the same price)!!! I've had no problems with it at all, and was great at my parents cabin at the Lake.

The feed dogs do drop, and it came with all kinds of stuff, which was interchangeable with my Janmoe stuff I already have.

Some people may not agree with me but I am only at my parents for the summer, and for the price it was perfect for me.

I have a Singer Genie, from the 70's I got for $15 from a church, it's about 19lbs. and has a cool case that contains the foot so it's very compact. It doesn't have a free arm, and the feed dogs don't drop, but I know someone who just puts cardboard on top of the feed dogs!

I also have a cool little pink Kenmore I got for christmas 2 years ago, and it is a Janome rebadged. I know a few months ago they had the same machine in blue at sears.com.

Good Luck finding something you are going to like!

I would kill for a featherweight for classes and travel but bought (settled, that is) a Brother CSI6000 small, light weight and sews great.

i have the janome platinum jem. 12 pounds, a little work horse.
they also have the Jem gold, runs around 300 new.

there is one on ebay right now..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Janome-Jem-Gold-...item35adc2ad96

$20 shipping