Since I am reading all the stories about bad machines. I wanted to know what sewing machine would be a good one for me to buy, I want to spend around 150 ( going to be my xmas present from hubby) Also my daughter is 8 and is wanting to start sewing what machine do I get her?? She wants one for xmas and not sure if I should bother with the kids sewing machine or just get her a smaller cheaper regular one. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

About the only thing I can recommend is that you stay away from the low end new Singers, older ones are much better. A lot of the people on board have Janome's but I have no actual experience with them. I would also buy from a dealer, not a big box store. The dealer might also have a used higher end machine for a very reasonable price.

About 6 weeks ago I purchased a Brother CS-770 Computerized machine from Hancocks for $159.00. It is not a fancy machine but it does everything I need it to do. It has 39 different stitches, some for quilting and some for embroidering. I did have to purchase seperately a free-motion quilting foot and a walking foot, but it was well worth it. My 6 year old grandson did some fancy stitching on a little bag I made for his Mom. He had no problems at all.

Picture will not upload. Sorry

OK..I think I got it.

Go to a store and actually sit and sew on a machine you are considering... how easy is it to thread, how nice is the stitch... what stitches does it do... what will you be using it to do... quilt piecing and light clothing sewing (not denims, not machine quilting) will do probably fine on one of the the machines you can get for $150.... but buy the best you can. Nothing is more frustrating than having a "tool" that doesn't work well, or do what you want it to do. I used to teach and had kindergarteners (with lots of supervision) sew on my machine.... Don't get your daughter one of those "play" machines if you think she really wants to sew... It will just frustrate her.....

Thanks for the advice. She says she wants to be a fashion designer so I know she really wants to sew, so I will look around and see what is a reasonable price. If she enjoys it on a lower end machine we can get her a better one later, she has a younger sister she can pass it down too hehe. So one more question, by dealer do you mean like a sewing shop?? I am really new to this so not exactly sure what dealer means.

I agree about making sure you sew on it. I also agree about the singers. I love my feather weight I bought, built in 1952, but most singers are not that good anymore, I had a couple of other and the tension was always a problem.

Good to know about the singers that is what I was looking at buying. So I will stay away from those ones.

I'm an advocate of Janome machines and going to a Janome dealer; just look in your tele.book under sewing machine dealers to find a Janome one. They will let you sit and try out a machine, and they do have some nice ones that don't cost hundreds and hundreds. Most dealers have classes too, and some of them are FREE when you buy a machine from them. I taught kids too and agree with 3Gquilter..... definitely do not buy her a toy machine. She can learn on a regular machine (with lots of supervision) and the dealer might have kids classes too.

You can also go online to Janome.com to see all of their models.

Good luck. Keep us posted on what you buy......yippee!