Please post a picture. Most manufacturers made machines for retailers who put their own names on the machines, so I need to see a picture to determine the maker. It could be British or German if it did come from overseas. It's even possible that it's American. I have a "Governor C" hand crank machine which was sold by a store in England, but was made by the National Sewing Machine Company of Belvidere, Illinois and now lives with me here in Wisconsin. It's quite well-traveled! Annie

Bras are time consuming to make mom and I tried it years ago after making a few decided it was easier to buy bras BUT we not that hard to fit for us it's easier to adjust the store bought bras. I usually have to take up the shoulder straps many bras won't tighten as tight as I need them love the bra hate the strap type of thing. Quick Sew patterns are easy to follow come with many sizes on the pattern to be traced off before using they do have at least 1 bra pattern. I'm sure my DD would be greatful if I'd make her some bras for while she is preggers hell of a time buying bras when you grow to about a 38M when preggers and change bra size about every 2 to 3 weeks.

Be sure to inquire about good, used sewing machines that have been traded in. I traded my Bernina artista 165 in on an artista 200 after three months (had to have that color embroidery screen, y'know!). On the computerized ones, your dealer (or his/her technician) can most likely tell you how many hours the trade-in has on it (unless it has had a mother board replaced, which will then show it with zero hours, like new). You can really get some good deals on gently used machines. Be sure to sit down and sew with it on material YOU bring from home, types of fabric you are likely to use regularly. Needle up/down feature is really nice, and it's important to get one that does nice buttonholes. I believe in buying the best you can possibly afford b/c you will definitely grow into it, especially if you take advantage of the free lessons most dealers offer. Mary

I love my serger, I've used it to make lots of things, last year I made table runners with matching placemats for all my girls for Christmas. I find if you go slow with the threading it isn't that hard. The main issue with threading is to make sure the thread goes into the tension disks for each needle. I also have the floss threaders but it's almost just as easy to use my fingers and a bent tip tweezer. YouTube has a bunch of serger videos and they are really good for helping you understand the tension set up and threading. Baby blankets are a really fast project and comes in handy when you need a shower gift. I don't know what we did when we didn't have YouTube lol.