Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm thinking of purchasing this machine as my very first and I want to know if anyone else thinks that this is a good idea. It's Small, cute, affordable and it goes with my whole "everything in the house that CAN be Hello Kitty MUST be hello kitty" rule. I don't like that it's green, but I figure it'll make a good starter machine and it is from a reputable manufacturer if my understanding is correct.

I also intend to, at some point, buy this as a secondary machine for my doll clothes.

So, what do you think? Is it worth the price or should I just save more for a better one? Any suggestions on equally affordable but higher quality machines? I'm open to pretty much anything right now.

I'd also like a suggestion on embroidery machines, should anyone have one.

I haven't heard anything about the reliability of Janome machines. My dream sewing machine is a Huskystar made by Huskevarna, the same company that makes chain saws. I went to a sewing and vacuum store and asked lots of questions about the machines. This particular Huskystar is inexpensive (sort of) and is powerful enough to sew through a few layers of denim.

As long as you're doing lightweight sewing (light cottons or cotton poly mixes) for things like shirts, sundresses, doll clothes and crafts it looks like a fine machine.

It is a light duty machine, so if you plan on doing costumes or quilting or anything that goes though more than 4 layers of light fabric or more than 2 of medium (or anything heavy) I would suggest looking into bigger, heavier machines. But as a starter it looks fine.