MargeD

I would definitely take it to a reputable dealer to get an estimate of what it would cost to repair the machine, as it could be something fairly simple that needs to be fixed, it's probably cheaper than even a low cost machine. Another alternative would be to see if the repair shop had any used machines for sale that she might be interested in as well.

k_jupiter

You might think about other things while you are evaluating.... Is it getting hard for her to thread the needle? Wind a bobbin? Get the bobbin in correctly every time? New machines are not built like they use to be, they never were. But new machines do have a couple of advantages that my older Elna and Berninas don't have, like auto threading. Just sumthin to think about. tim in san jose

mjhaess

My repairman says never pass a good old singer up. he says the new ones are not half of what the old ones are. The old ones are all metal, not plastic.

madamekelly

Bunus- it is an old enough Singer to be one of the good ones made before they"discovered" built-in obsolescence!

mamagrande

I used to work next to a thrift shop and they often had Touch and Sew come in that needed work. I asked if I could take it to the repair shop to see if they could fix it and I would buy from the shop. Well the repair man said what has been stated before he call it the Touch and Swear..and he showed me the broken part it was a sprocket made of plastic and it had been stripped. He said in order to replace that he needed to take a lot of stuff off and the service would cost more than it was worth. Some times thrift shops have good ones I did get a nice Kenmore..they are still made with all metal parts.