Kay, I'll be using it mainly to carry to quilting classes. I'm a beginner so
just piecing for now. I do sew in general, used to sew a lot of clothes but
now mostly crafts. So I should be okay with an inexpensive machine, and then
have a good machine for bigger jobs. I was looking at a couple of the
Brother machines, they have fairly good ratings at Consumers Digest and
Consumer Reports. I'll investigate the Janome and Kenmores, as you suggest.
Thanks!

"Kay Lancaster" wrote in message ...

On Fri, 7 Oct 2011 10:59:40 -0400, CindiA wrote:
I've been lurking awhile, this is my first post. I need to buy an
inexpensive, simple, lightweight sewing machine to carry to quilting
classes. I presently have an old Singer which works okay but weighs a
ton-and-a-half, it's a killer to schlep around. I've seen several

Are you going to quilt on this machine , or just piece? Takes a pretty
solid machine to quilt, but piecing is less of an issue, since the fabrics
are
lighter.

At under $200, I'd probably be looking at a basic Janome. They also make
Kenmore. Something like the Jem series or Magnolia series machines, but
they're not going to be happy doing major quilting projects. The Jems are
about 12 lbs, the Magnolias about 18. You won't get the needle up/down
functions that are useful when you want to piece curves or do Y seams,
though.

Kay