Sewing Machine Recommendations Please

[joko]

i am thinking of buying a new home sewing machine

i'm not looking to spend a lot and will probably look for one on ebay

i am looking for a versatile one that does lots of stuff, lots of stitches and facilities etc

it will not have heavy use but i want to have lots of options of what i can do with it.

any ideas?

thanks

[KARL]

When you say "new" I will assume you mean new to you but not unused. My wife has two Elna machines, one a Lotus and it is small enough to have been carried abroad when we both travelled on my work assignments. The other is larger and heavier, a model 1000. Both are robust and well built have provided excellent service, they are Swiss designed and I think the latter may have been made in Japan whereas the Lotus is Swiss made. The former has had probably three professional service maintenance sessions over almost 40 years of use and just recently I installed in it a replacement motor. The second was bought more recently on eBay for around £50 and because it was going to benefit from it I did some oiling, adjustments and replaced the spool winding wheel - it is brilliant.

[nannybooby]

have had a Brother machine for 15 years never let me done yet - expect that will be the kiss of death !

[Tuvok]

Go to Ideal World - they have some, and being a shopping channel you can return things.......

[atalanta]

If you can't get an Elna, get an Italian machine.The engineering is excellent

[jomifl]

Have a look at 'sewing machines direct', they sell machines with huge discounts that are supposedly ex. display or returns. Mrs jom bought a 'Brother' from them that had never been out of it's box.

[Peaspeculiars]

I was gifted a 'Brother LS14' machine this Christmas and it is superb! Strong enough to sew denim and am about to try Sail material shortly too. I would definitely recommend one. (although I'm not sure how much it would cost new)