Mini sewing machine gadget things - any good?

I had one of the 'Aldi' machines 15 years ago. They are brilliant.

Oh. , The sewing machine , the sewing machine. A girls best friend,
If I didn’t have my sewing machine ,I,d come to a sticky end,

So I bobbin and bobbin and peddle peddle all the day,
So by night I am too tired to go out and play !!

I remember this song from my childhood. , can’t remember all the lyrics. But I loved hearing it

It was from the film “The perils of Pauline. Sung by Betty Hutton , I just looked it up on YouTube

@Lucca did you mean which lady on YouTube? If so, here you are www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFABAbK4Beo

I recently inherited a Janome from a friend after my mums 1961 Bernina finally died.
I’m really enjoying using it and the instruction book is brilliant

No mini or small portable machines are rubbish. I have taught sewing and a number of people turn up with these machines and cannot get them to work properly ir they do not sew properly. Buy a normal machine. Thereare many models you can buy under £100.00.

I own an elaborate and versatile machine, as I made most of my own clothes, but it is very heavy.A couple of years ago I bought a lightweight but normal size Brother machine from Hobbycraft for about£60. I now find that I use the new machine for everything. The 'posh' machine is virtually redundant!

I second Sewing Machines Direct. Honest and helpful.
Also GUR. They delivered my machine to France free.
A good basic machine such as a Janome is not exorbitant. Singer aren't the quality they used to be and there are lots of complaints about them too. Since being taken over they went downhill.

I gave a mini machine to a 13 year old who was interested in fashion/art. She thought it was wonderful. Now 5 years on she has a full machine, as expected as mini not "string" enough (her word). I have a 60 year old electric Singer and a 20 year old Brother. Whenever I want to do anything with a thick seam eg all the folds in face masks I get my old Singer out. I feel a lot of the cheaper machines may not have a good pressure on the foot and may only cope with fine materials and thin seams.

ah? chewbacca,, old fashioned treadle machines..

and it is called progress! they are all far too complicated for me now..

my overdone RANT progress ! duh!

Fat thumb today should be "strong" not "string".

Chewbacca, I miss my lovely Singer treadle so much. I gave it away when I thought it was (mostly) just a space gobbling dust collector.

I now have an old, heavy electric one - but it's just not the same. Worse, I'm waiting for a stronger person to visit and move it for me. It's on the floor and I want it on the table - but daren't risk my back.

No better to buy a decent one I bought my son a $100 brother on sale and its a great machine I was half thinking it would be junk but 4 years on still going strong and i use it for button holes as it does better than mine! You would be best to look around at christmas sales

I think you could go on the huge selling website beginning with E and get a basic but full size one.
I bid for an older model Frister & Rossman - 99 pence and I got it! Very surprised no one else bid against me.
(I had to pay courier costs too).
It had a broken foot pedal - but it was glued together by my FIL and worked well for 10 years.

If you only do basic sewing any old machine will do, although charity shops are out of the question right now.

Just make sure it uses round spools, not the old boat shaped ones as you can't get replacements of them any longer.

If you buy say and old Singer and can't get parts at your local sewing machine shop, go online. I did, when I needed new rubber rings for mine.

Pfaff make really good modern machines, I have one.

I bought a hand crank Singer sewing machine on eBay, just like the one I learned on in school, almost 50 years ago. It dates from the 1920's, according to the code number on it (Google is wonderful). I've had it serviced and it works perfectly. I think it cost £25 and the service another £20. My mum had a Singer treadle machine, she was a seamstress so was always sewing - she was made to go to trade school and learned dressmaking, and she always hated it, later going into banking, where she did quite well. Happy memories of her making all our dresses (mine and 2 sisters), and our nan, her mum, making matching cardigans. She hasn't get a sewing machine now though!

My Mum was a brilliant seamstress. She decided to buy one of the mini machines in the mid 70s made by Ronco. It was more for the novelty value and small jobs. She was initially impressed with it and went on to make a maxi dress for me for my cousins wedding. Oh dear,every movement by me seemed to loosen/ undo a seam! We had a very entertaining day if not for all the right reasons! They may have improved but buy with caution ?

Mum used to use an old Singer for everything and she taught me to sew. For my 18th birthday she bought me a basis Bernini. It lasted me a long time. My current Bernini was bought in the late 1980s and is still going strong although it’s been repaired twice. Having said all this my daughter has recently bought a Janome and she is very happy with it.

I think it all depends on how much sewing anyone is intending on doing. I’m not a fan of fancy computer machines. I’ve rarely used most of the features and just stick to the basic stitches.

My father bought my mother a lightweight Singer some years ago when a back injury stopped her lifting her other one. I used it when visiting and it was a lovely machine. I imagine there are similar ones around now.

Why not ask advice on the Madam Sew pages onFb? They are a cornucopia of sewing advice, including sewing machine recommendations

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Do you have a Freegle, or similar site in your area? When I upgraded to a fancier machine I offered my old basic one to anyone who could make use of it. It was eagerly snapped up by a young mum.
You can put requests for items on these sites, and seeing people asking can often jog someone into donating something that has been sitting unused in their house. If you are lucky you could be given a sewing machine completely free.
People donate, and request, the oddest things sometimes, which turn out to be just what someone else wanted.

I made a lot of my clothes on my granny’s Singer treadle machine in my teens and early twenties. After I was married my MIL bought me a modern electric sewing machine, but it was heavy, and I was always having problems with tension, etc. I eventually gave it away. A few years later I bought one of the small pastel coloured ones in BHS but it never worked. That was given away too!

I think with curtains you need a more robust machine; perhaps one that could cope with denim.