A good sewing machine  

Singer is good brand. I have also Kennmore. I brought on Ebay a few years ago, and it is fabulous.

I have a Janome New Home that I love. I also have a Huskylock serger from Husqvarna. I suggest going to different dealers (dealers often provide better support and classes than, say, target or walmart) and trying out different brands until you find one that feels best.

I have 2 kenmores, an industrial singer, a singer and a white serger, and a brother embroidery machine. I love them all, but do have problems with some things. One of my kenmores is about 40 years old, very heavy because it is all metal, but it runs the best. It is in a cabinet, and I neede portability. So I bought the industrial singer, which sews anything, but gets out of adjustment. Probably because I abuse it so much. I needed a serger for lycra materials, so I bought the singer, which ended up breaking,and was in he shop, so I was under a deadline, and bought another serger. The embroidery machine is my newest venture, but I love it. Have fun.

I have used a lot of different machines. I've had Singers, Brothers, Bernina's, Vikings, Janmoes, Whites, and Kenmores. Your selection of a machine depends on several different questions.

First, how much money do you want to spend? If you are on a very limited budget you might want to go to a dealer and check out used machines. Dealers will usually stand behind their product. I do recommend that if you are doing garment sewing that you get one with the free arm. That is a sewing machine bed that changes from a flat bed to one that has a smaller area that is open on all sides...it's great for sewing circular areas like sleeves, cuffs etc. You might also want an automatic button holer. I can't make a free hand button hole to save my life!!! (LOL)

Next, what kind of sewing are you going to do? If you are only doing garment sewing you won't need as heavy duty a machine as if you were doing upholstery work or in my case sewing furs.

Are you going to eventually use the machine in a home based business? If you are going to really work the machine you need to get a heavier duty machine than if you are just sewing for yourself.

I bought an older machine that has the metal parts for making the teddy bears. The newer machines don't have as many metal parts and they just can't handle the heavy duty daily sewing I do with the bears. I bought a 6 year old Brother sewing machine for sewing clothes for myself. I got it on Ebay for under a hundred dollars.

I can't recommend any one machine since I don't know what you're going to be sewing. Each of the major sewing machine manufacturers have machines in every price range. I would go on line to check out the various models that you are considering.

well i have found through tough experiaence that when it comes to sewing machines the concept of "you get what you pay for" definitely applies a couple years ago i bought two of those little fifteen dollar minature sewing machines from walmart and neither of them worked i ended up having to take them back and get my money back i am trying to save up the money and buy a good sewing machine for myself but they are just so expensive