Hi!

So I was googling the difference between two particular sewing machines, which lead me here. I've been trying to clue myself up on which sewing machine to buy my wife for Christmas and it was all going to be sneaky sneaky then surprise! on Christmas day, but she mentioned to me that she wanted to buy her sister a sewing machine for Christmas too, and as they sew / quilt together I thought I'd better let her in on my plan.

She currently uses her mothers machine which is an old Bernina. I went to the Bernina site to see what they had / prices etc, and just about died. $6000 for a 'basic' machine!?!? Ouch.

We went looking today at Spotlight, but as my wife and her sister are novices (and obviously I am too) we just had to believe the sales lady there. I hate doing that. I like to be better informed.

My wife and her sister have just got into quilting, but want something that they can do basic mending etc on as well.

We looked at a few machines and she likes the Brother NS30. It's currently $480 (NZD), down from $599. There was also a Toyota machine that was ~$100 more. I've also come across a janome 5027LE at a similar price.

Basically, what I want to know is, what would you recommend?

I don't want her to find in a few years time that her machine isn't meeting her needs anymore, nor do we want to break the bank. I'm happy with $500, or $600 (if it really makes more sense).

Thoughts?