for my 16th birthday I got a blue brother in a yellow flowered case and almost 40 years later I still have it although I haven't used it in 15 years since I got my Bernina 1530. I don't think I'll ever part with it !

My mother taught me to sew at age 9 on her very old Brother. It folds down into the cabinet. I still have it and still use it from time to time. The first upgrade I bought myself was a Singer when I moved out. When she passed my dad gave me her machine.

I still have it from 1971. Mine was a portable Penncrest I bought myself at JCPenneys. I saved the money from babysitting. I was 16 and my boyfirends mom was a seamstess, she taught me and her DD to sew at the same time. She was also a great cook. I am who I am becasue if her. 40 years later and I am still in contact with her. My own mom could have cared less if I was dead or alive.

I had a singer, don't know the model, wish I did, I was about 8, my frugal Dad probably got it for a couple dollars and brought it home for me. I sewed my first pant suit when I was 10, my Mom was a 4-H teacher and loved perfection, that's when I learned to use a seam ripper

Mine was a singer and I was 9. I still have her and she still works. BUT.....my youngest dd has her at her house. She is sewing like crazy -Clothes - so I am buying her a new one soon and getting "Birdy" back. She is soooooo old if I am 55 then she is 46. Wow. She even has her same cabinet she came in. Wow, what memories.

My first machine was an OLD White machine...prob. from the 40's, in a cabinet...only did straight stitch, but did it well! I was 16 and bought it with my own money. I had it upstairs in my bedroom. My mom had an old "New Home" downstairs...again, just did straight stitch. (BTW, this was 1976.)

I bought my second machine off of my sister a couple years later when I was 18. It had ZIG-ZAG! Woohoo! LOL I thought I was in heaven!

From there I went through a poorly made Singer from the 80's until I finally bought a used Bernina 830 Record in 1995.

I have since sold it and own 2 computerized Vikings...one does embroidery, too.

My mom give me her old Kenmore it had all the bell and dwistle at that time. She had it for a long time and i had it for 15 years. it was a good one :thumbup:

I learned at nine to sew on my mom's featherweight. At fifteen, I used my babysitting money to buy a used gray coloured Touch and Sew which I used until 1976 when I bought my Bernina 830 Record. My daughter now sews on my mom's featherweight and my SIL still has my Touch and Sew. I have kept my Bernina 830 as my back up machine to my Janome 6500.

As a teenager, I sewed on my mother's treasured White at home and my grandmother's Singers (one treadle) while on vacation. My husband bought me a portable machine for our first Christmas when I was 17. I don't remember the brand. It was replaced with a cabinet Kenmore with more stitches in 1961. In 1974, I bought my Elna SU Star. The Kenmore is in hiding, but the Elna is still going strong. Last year I added a 1952 Singer 128 asnd a 1956 Singer 301A. So my first was an unknown 1958 model.

Bought myself a $100 industrial/teaching model in 1987. Gave it away to my sister (still kicking myself) because my parents gave me a Husqvarna/Viking when I graduated from my master's program in civil engineering in 1990. She still doesn't sew, but has hopes her daughters will.