bernamom

I would search on Amazon for machines between 50-100. Read the reviews (there are thousands!), then look locally for better deals. This time of year is a great time to get good deals on better machines.

Monale

I'm Swiss, so I can confirm that Bernina is indeed a Swiss brand (not Swedish) Love my mom's vintage Bernina 830!

Jennie and Me

I have two of these little Kenmore machines, one pink and one blue. They are great little machines and I think that I paid around $60 on E-bay. They are made by Janome.[ATTACH=CONFIG]535961[/ATTACH]

Granchris

I have a Brother CS 6000i, lightweight. Great machine, watch for sales. I only paid $100 last year about this time.

Fizzle

I bought both granddaughters the little Bernette Seville last year for $140 each.
Could have gotten cheaper starter machines but wanted the Bernina name. But you are all right. It is not a "Bernina". But the girls love them.....
i have an early 1980's 930 Record. LOVE IT!!!!!!

Fizzle

Amazon has a little Janome similar to this for about 60 right now. Lots of colors.

todiesmom

I agree Brother cs600i is a great little machine. I think I paid $199 at Costco. I use it as a backup. I would certainly not buy a cheap Bernina. I have a Bernina Activa 230 and it is not fancy but has a reasonable amount of embroidery stitches and I paid $1500 several years ago . It is a great machine and sews through things that are almost industrial type...i.e.
tops of totes that are thick. I never have tension problems with it and my only complaint is it is a small harp only 6.5" so not easy to push a big quilt thru. I mostly do QAYG to get around this problem.

Jennie and Me

Actually the little Janomes that Amazon has are a little smaller than these Kenmores. This machine is the Kenmore version of the Hello Kitty machines by Janome. They are a great little machine, lightweight and easy to transport. They sew beautifully.

quiltedsunshine

The lower end Berninas aren't Berninas, they're Bernettes. And there is a big difference. The lowest price on those is the Sevile 46, for $149. I actually like the Bernette London 5 -- which is advertised for $399 in the Bernina Christmas sales promotion (but your dealer will probably sell it for a lot less). I like that it has an oscillating, all metal bobbin/hook system. You get some great stitches, including the blanket stitch for applique. There's a buttonhole system, and you have control of the stitch width, which you don't on a lot of lower end machines.

I did get a cheap Brother machine in the shop today. 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.

Jim

I like the Project runways which will be on sale at Walmart for $99, I have two of them. My wife has a Bernette that she won at a quilt show and I despise that machine...it' s very noisy and it jumps on the table. We also bought the little Janome for our grandkids, it's not one to be used much but it was small and cheap for them....read the reviews but for a good machine at a low price the Brother Project Runways do the job well....I've had mine for over 10 years and make LOTS of quilts