My time

It's interesting that some of you mentioned the inexpensive brother. That's what I used have to take to classes but I let my daughter have it when she finished university. Thanks so much for the feed back.

Connie in CO

Janome make Sears don't they?

Stitchnripper

I would recommend a basic Brother. I work on 3 of them (one at home, one at each of son's house) and several ladies in my class have gotten them and are happy with them. Just basic mechanical models.

margecam52

I have a Singer from 2005 & I love it. Not sure on this one..seems out of 8 reviews, half love the machine, half hate it.

Ok...one of the complaints (and it was mentioned in another)..is the location of the bobbin case. It's not a drop in bobbin...the bobbin is located at the front of the free arm area (you have to remove the arm to get to the bobbin case)...that's like the older machines..no biggie...so we are now at 5 & 3 for like/dislike.

Also, one person said they had difficulty feeding several layers of quilt fabric through...uh...so do I, even on my longarm machine. So, now it's 6/2 pro.

Another said she constantly had problems with broken needles/threads and jams.... the manual says to make certain the "leg" of the bobbin case is inserted correctly and all the way..probably her problem...not sure...other person can't get the button hole down...admits it's a learning problem, not a machine problem...Also...the other person said they didn't like that the machine reset to a straight stitch and 2.5 stitch length when turned off, then on again...that's fairly standard with electronic machines...so...overall...probably an ok machine for the price.

I have a brother SE270D...love it! auto threading, auto cutter..and lightweight if the embroidery arm is not attached.
Marge

Buckeye Rose

Please check to see if the machine has plastic gears/parts....I can attest to the fact that they will not hold up for very long if you use it everyday like I did. Mine died a painful death and the repairs would have been more than the cost of a new one. I ended up buying a used Janome and am so glad I did. I love it!

luckylindy333

That is probably a better idea, go to an actual sewing machine store and pick up a good used machine... I don't like Kenmore or Singer... sorry, had bad experiences with both brands back in the sixties, maybe they have changed since then...

Nanamoms

I will put in my 2 cents here!! I had a Singer Ingenuity bought from Walmart around $200. Worked great for a while and then started skipping and stacking stitches. No matter what I adjusted, it wouldn't sew a great stitch and I did sew on stabilized fabric.

Bought a Brother SE270D and LOVE IT. Sold the Singer and bought a Brother PE700II......that was before I caught the vintage machine addiction...now THOSE Singers I am totally addicted to!

Cherokeequilter

I just bought a lightweight Janome machine with needle up/down, needle threader, table extension and 60 stitches so I could use it at our quilt guild meetings and classes. I had a light weight Pfaff/Smart which I had used for 5 years but needed the up/down needle and the extension table. When I got it there was a funny sound which turned out just needing oil after being shipped in a hot truck. While I was having it serviced I asked about several other brands so the shop owner/repair person showed me the insides of these machines. The reason the Brother sounds hollow is that all the medal parts are actually mounted to the plastic frame. Singer is like this too. The Janome is a medal frame which can stand alone and then the plastic covers it. Also he told me that the same company makes Pfaff, Janome and BabyLock and they are very similar inside. If you get a new model be aware that although the lights are LED you will notice that the work area may not be as bright as you would expect. I found that many of the front case designs may make it harder to see the needle as clearly as earlier models. The needle area seems to be mounted farther back than the larger, heavier models. I hate to part with money quickly so it has taken me nearly a year to change my travel machine. Good luck!

It'sJustMe

A lot of great suggestions here. The only good thing I can say about Singer is that my purchase of one had me running to buy a Janome.