I got this for my daughters 9th birthday, I was fairly confident that it would work well because of all the great reviews, but a bit skeptical as well. The reviews were right!!!! I have sown for many years but didn't want to try teaching my daughter on my big extremely expensive sewing machine, but I wanted it to work like the real thing. This one is very light weight and easy for her to move around so she can sew where she wants to. The stitching is good and doesn't just pull out like on some small ones that surprisingly cost more. I would definitely buy this again.