I have a very old singer it was my grandmothers. Since my mom and I are the only ones that sew and mom has a babylock and a husqverna (sp) I got to have my grandmothers, which is geat cause my mom's also has a mind of it's own, I do better without bells and whistles, so I would say look into singer..it was the first machine my dad bought my mom when they got married and she loved it and made many dresses and toys for me and my dolls, the singer lasted until I was in 6th grade so it was pretty old when mom got a new one.
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