I have started taking quilting classes & since we need to bring our own machines I purchased the Fashion Mate. The machine is lightweight has some decorative stitches & accessory feet such as a walking foot was reasonably priced. My only small observation is the needle threader feature I found it difficult to use at first but I have gotten better as time has went on . The other thing to make sure of is that you buy the right bobbins for the machine so that you don't have trouble when working on your project. These are also very reasonably priced .