Sewing Machine

[ECMom]

I wanted to get my Mom a sewing machine for her birthday since hers recently broke. She only uses it for hemming and repairs. Does anyone have a recommendation? Also, I only knew of Singer but see the Brother and Shark brands. Are these any good?

TIA.

[new_mommy25]

I have a Bernina but it was $$ and a gift from my lovely DH and MIL. :) I don't have any experience with other machines but have heard from many different sources when I was doing my sewing machine research that the lower end Singer and Brother machines you can buy from Walmart, Target, Amazon etc. are really junky. I have a couple of friends that have Kenmore machines and they are very happy with them. One of my good friends has a lower end Kenmore and while she says it's not the greatest machine, it's been good to her and she sews A LOT.

When I was taking quilting classes we sewed on Janome Jem machines and I really liked them. They are small and lightweight so perfect if you store the machine most of the time. They were also really easy to use and sewed well. I would buy one.
http://janome.com/index.cfm/Machines/Series/Jem_Gold
http://www.quiltersreview.com/article.asp?article=/review/product/010402_a.asp

[basilicali]

I would recommend checking out the machine reviews on this board. They do recommend some Kenmores which are made by Janome.

http://sewing.patternreview.com/SewingMachine/

Karen

[JTsMom]

I have a relatively inexpensive Singer (under $200), and I'm really happy with it. It would be more than enough for what you described. I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, and I haven't had any problems with it at all. I have heard bad things about Brothers though.

[westgre]

I have a Pfaff, which I love. I used my mom's cheapo Singer until I got my machine, and it was absolutely aggravating! My mom has a Bernina, Husqvarna, Janome, and an antique Singer Featherweight also. If you can find a Featherweight on ebay -- those are great to sew on. My mom has been pretty pleased with her Janome as well. I think she got hers at Sears.

[MamaKath]

I have a great Kenmore. My mom has had her Kenmore for 30 years and it is still going strong. They are not super expensive either.