I learned to sew on an ancient Bernina and then went to a cheap New Home. I then returned to Bernina when I did alterations professionally. Our shop only used Bernina sewing machines. They are true workhorses. I now have my own and LOVE it. It has great flexibility in stitch length and width, nice and heavy machine. It has a variety of stitches that a home sewer would need as well as a more advanced seamstress.