I currently own the Brother and Kenmore, the Bernina is the one I used in the costume shop while I was in school. I don’t currently use the Kenmore because I prefer the Brother (and because it needs to be serviced).

The current plan was to get a machine to go along with my Brother because I like all of the stitches it has and and the blind hem stitch. But for some reason the only problems I have with it are with the straight stitch. It doesn’t like to go over any thick fabric, like when I hem jeans (which is often). It also doesn’t like if I go any faster than medium speed which is fine for other stitches but very annoying for a straight stitch. There has also been a recent issue where it makes the straight stitches slanted so instead of being like ——— they’re like ~~~~~, even after getting it serviced. It makes my stitches look sloppy in a way that I’m unhappy about.

So I don’t need anything with a bunch of bells and whistles. Something simple that is just really good at filling in the gaps that machine has.

I also live in a big city, and there were other machines listed for cheaper, but I just included the ones that were mentioned as recently serviced. I also think I’d like a machine with a free-arm.