Beginning to sew- John Lewis mini or regular?

[minesapackofminstrels]

I am planning to get a sewing machine for very basic sewing and maybe a quilt. Would the JL mini be sufficient for my needs or would I be better getting the full size one? Thanks

You need to get a regular machine and invest in a walking foot for when you are making the sandwich unless you are hand sewing the layers together. The mini will not cope.

My 10 year old has the JL machine and is good, but for what you are planning I would buy a full size one.

The lady in my local JL haberdashery recommends the £100 singer as it will get you started and keep you going for a long while.

The mini one definitely won't do quilting. Dd's will only handle lightweight fabrics.

DISCLAIMER!! I know nothing at all about sewing, but my dd does a class. she bought this with her Christmas money and took it to her class...her teacher said it was a really good basic machine, and if you sign up free to the hobbycraft club, you get an extra 15% off too.

not sure if this helps or not!

I bought a half decent brother from Tesco for about £65 on offer and it's still going strong after 7 years. I originally had a mini but I killed it sewing thick denim.

Lidl in France had a Pfaff machine last week for €99. Sometimes they have the same offers at the same time in the UK. Pfaff machines are the top of the range - apparently - never been able to afford one.

My Lidl has a Singer for £80 today which looked rather good.
I bought a second hand Janome last year for £26 (Ebay) and it's been fantastic, really solid and soooo smooth. If you want a decent machine you can pick them up cheaply second hand - if Ebay feels a bit wild you could try ads in a local sewing shop. I'd go for Janome, Brother, Toyota or Frischter-Rossman (spelling might not be right) if going down that route as Singer don't have the reputation they used to.