I am hoping there are some EFers who sew and can give me some advice. My very, very old trusty sewing machine died and I am looking into replacements. Why not get it repaired, you ask? Well, my newer sewing machine went to my sister because it wouldn't work over here. The old one belonged to my mother and is over 30 years old. It has never been repaired and up until a few years ago, got the job done - barely. I think a new one is in order. The old one can sit together with my black and white pre-windows laptop (which still works -- remember 3 1/2 inch floppy disks!) and swap stories of the good old days.

Budget is max. CHF 600; for my needs I'm sure I can get more than enough machine for that price. What I would like is some personal recommendations on sewing machines. I have been looking at Brother as they seem to get good results in test reports, but I don't really know them. Pfaff would be great but they seem to be pretty expensive. So, any comments or suggestions will be very much appreciated.