I hope that someone can give me the benefit of their expertise here please. My DD will be 13 in January and has asked for a sewing machine as a present (odd child, the other DD, who is 14, wants make-up, CDs and the like!).
DD is quite talented at craft work and very enthusiastic about it and so I think a sewing machine would get a fair bit of use though I can't sew a button properly on even by hand! The question is, what should I buy that is user-friendly, not overloaded with fancy features, pretty robust and not expensive?
As a lone mum my finances are very limited - would I be wiser to buy a second hand machine (she knows funds are tight and wouldn't be offended or hurt) to see how she gets on with it as I certainly can't afford most of the new "adult" ones, or one of those mini machines seem on Ebay and spend the remainder of my money on other gifts?
Or is it a better idea to go the whole hog and buy one of the cheaper end of the market models even though she wouldn't get much else?
All ideas gratefully received, thank you.