Newer, basic machine? Post here or on the sewing side?
 

My great-niece, Natalea, soon to turn 10, wants a sewing machine for Christmas.

This does not leave time for me to find, purchase, refurbish, and ship any of the Grand Old Ladies I hope to give my her mom, my niece.

I tried explaining my love of the old mechanical machines, but I'm sure the 9-year-old would be dazzled by the colorful new machines.

We are not going to spend a fortune on a top of the line new machine, but I do want something solid for her to learn on, and sew with for several years. By then I'll have found the "perfect" vintage machine for her mother, and she can update the daughter's machine.

What new machine would you suggest? I want her to have straight, reverse, blind, and zig-zag stitches at the minimum.

I live in North Dakota; she is in Arkansas. There are two (?) sewing centers in Mtn. Home. I will be paying for her to have classes at one of them.

I read the thread "Recommendations for an 11-year-old." Wonderful ideas, but I need suggestions (sadly) for a new machine. She's too excited to wait.

10 is a nice age to get a real sewing machine. It might be light weight, but really doesn't have to be. I remember sewing on old Singers and at the time new Berninas by that age. The 50s and early 60s Japanese zigzaggers come in nice colors for a 10 year old girl, I have seen two tone pink, pale blue, mint green. Some of them are all metal and smooth stitchers. There are all kinds of horrid things easy to fall for, Hello Kitty from Janome, miniature zigzaggers on TV shopping channels. I can't think of anything perfect, I would still not rule out the chance of a vintage machine turning up. You just have to take on a bit of cleaning and oiling your self, a full service can come later on if needed. I haven't seen any very nice new machines in the lower price ranges. Maybe a Husqvarna E10 or E20, or a Janome of resonable quality, but to me it feels such a waste to buy something temporarily. Why not just get her something else and hope the sewing machine turns up sooner than later.

I do hope something does show up, but with her in Arkansas, and me in North Dakota, I don't see it happening.

I promise I will not be party to her receiving any "horrid things easy to fall for, Hello Kitty from Janome, miniature zigzaggers on TV shopping channels." Nope; it will be real.

I'm hoping when I call the center tomorrow they may be something vintage, "real," and priced to sell.

I really don't know, but a lot of people like the range of new brother sewing machines that are out there now, they have some very well priced machines and they get rave reviews, try searching for threads on brother machines and see what you come up with. I am happy she wants to sew, out of my three, none of them sew, but they could if more interested, as they learned a lot through the years watching me.lol

Maybe Miriam on this forum can be of help. She seems to have a good supply out of cleaned up machines ready for a new owners. I don't know if she is any where near you or your niece though. Don't forget to look in charity shops and second hand shops, maybe auctions, garage sales or flea markeds. It's surpising where they turn up.

Baby Lock has some nice machines.....you might find a dealer in her area if u want to buy new the lessons on how to use the machine should come with the purchase price.

Don't get me into trouble... Again... Besides I'm pretty much not selling machines for now. I have elderly parents to take care of.

You have enough time to search around and you might be surprised what turns up.

For my 10 year old grand daughter, Miss M, we set up one of the old Singer 99s with HC, a Singer 15 and a clone. Oops she turned 11. But anyway, she keeps going back to the Singer 99 with the hand crank. Then when Phil pieced a block for Rodney, he borrowed it, too. Now it sits handy for who ever wants to use it. Miss L (8) preferred the Singer 15 no HC. Big sister Miss G (14) uses an old electric clone. They all ogled the Cinderella, but after looking it over decided to use better machines. A side note. I thought Miss G would love a Singer 404 but she hated it with a passion. I thought she could learn on that then go into one with fancy stitches... There is no accounting for tastes each kid is going to be different. Me being frugal and lazy, I would try to find a clone. They are easy to use and maintain. There are some very cool old Japanese machines that aren't clones. who knows you might get lucky and find something pink. Most sewing - maybe 99% is straight stitch. For a while it will be all she can do to master that. In a few years she might like one of the Singer slant series machines. You can pick up touch and sew machines very cheap. Stick with one that has metal gears or has been refurbished if it has plastic. The most important thing with a t & s is to find a manual and to use the manual. The good thing about upgrading a vintage machine is you can likely get your money back out of it.

It sounds like you are having too do this at a distance, that can be tough to know her needs, wants and abilities. Keep it simple. My DGKs are around quite a bit so I have a pretty good idea what they like - even then I can be very wrong.

Wilbur likes the Singer 128 because it has a 'rocket' for a bobbin... He's into anything that flys. He will turn 6 this week. Walter gets his hands all over knobs, levers and buttons. If he were to choose it would be a Japanese machine with a dashboard, I'm sure of it. I caught him resetting half the machines on a shelf one day. Ggggrrrrr he will be four just after Thanksgiving. Emma is not allowed anywhere near anybody's sewing machine. She is an 18 mo old terrorist. The other DGKs aren't allowed to go near anything dangerous probably because mommy is afraid of sewing machines, too... Sigh.

The right machine can be what will motivate any young sewist boy or girl to sew. If you are comfortable with some machine or another the kid will be more likely to be comfortable. If you don't like/love vintage machines, go to Walmart and find something.

I believe Janome is supposed to have a newer model that has a very large plastic needle guard.... If you have to go plastic for speed, might as well aim for safety...

This is the time of year when the dealers will have some good low end machines coming in for the holiday season. Brother or Janome, those are the dealers in her area I would look for if you're going to go that route.

Janome makes the low end Babylocks now so I'd skip it. A similar Janome would be about $50 less.

Cari

As much as we love and advocate vintage machines your best bet would be a new one given the distances involved.
Shipping and not being able to show how to use it yourself are deal breakers on vintage machines. Do try to get her one from an actual sewing machine dealer instead of a big box store though. Maybe they have a good used machine in on trade? It can't hurt to ask. That way it will be easier to get any repair work or adjustments that may be needed in the future done.
Rodney