After promising our daughter I'd make simple skirts for the characters in the middle school play she's directing, I was dismayed to find that my 30-year-old or so sewing machine refused to cooperate. No point in putting good money after bad, so I looked around and found this one at a great price at Walmart. Better still, I could pick it up today (time is at a bit of a premium here). I have yet to change the bobbin, but I got it threaded and working and finished one skirt and got a big start on the other eight.