singer… my mothers 30 year warranty on her machine just ran out, but good thing they are built to last. They are high quality machines!

According to my wife, who sews night and day, Bernina, Husqvarna, and Pfaff make excellent sewing machines for the beginner.

Singer or Brother. My Brother machine was inexpensive and is awesome.

i know the more expensive the machine, the more expensive it may be to fix it. i have a singer, and i rarely use it. it’s a fairly basic model. i have a very good friend who’s been sewing her whole life (in fact i just saw her friday and she hemmed some curtains for me). she sews clothes like a professional, quilts, makes dolls, drapes, you name it. she has about 20 machines, mostly singers, and many she gets on e-bay or craigslist for excellent prices. she said she always is looking on those sites for machines. she just bought an embroidery machine (thousands of dollars) and she bought one of the best ones, thinking it would last her forever. not only is it apparently a very confusing machine to learn how to use, but the expensive brand is very sensitive and does best with only the most expensive threads. my advice to her before she bought it, and my advice to you, is to try to get a fairly basic machine that is not too complicated. if you really get into it, and you’re good, you can buy a more complicated machine in the future. nowadays, the most basic machine will still have 30–60 different stitches. also, do what my friend does – check e-bay or craigslist frequently for a used model that someone is getting rid of.

I’ve been using a Kenmore for 30 years and it’s been repaired once. Obviously I haven’t priced them recently. I bought my daughter a machine at Zellers for $200. that she’s used a lot. I think you should get a cheap, perhaps used one first and see if you even like to sew. Look for zipper easy and buttonholers that are easy to understand.

For a long term investment I really like Pfaffs or Berninas. I like Husqvarna too, but they’re set-up significantly differently from most other machines, so I wouldn’t recommend it for a beginner.

For a get it done, learn on it machine, you can get a nice Brother, Kenmore, or Janome sewing machine relatively cheap and they’re good. If you’re going secondhand, you might luck out and find a machine with a metal body. I find this preferable to plastic. I would not recommend recent Singer machines. Older secondhand models (metal) are great, but the newer ones, not so much.

Whatever you do, don’t get a computerized machine unless you want to learn machine embroidery.

It really depends on what you are going to use it for. If you will occasionally sew a straight seam on clothing, a cheap machine from Wal Mart will do. I might also suggest a refurbished machine from a repair shop.

If you are going to do some serious sewing, quilting, and such, you will want a better quality brand name. Visit your local dealer and let them show you a variety of machines, and you might find there is one that feel more comfortable than the rest.