Novice buying a sewing machine, advice and recommendations please?

My aunt - she was a professional sewer - is so pleased with Janome we bought her for the last Christmas. At first we thought she wouldn't like all these electronic features. But she totally surprised us (in a good way!). She adore decorative stitches and uses them quite often. It's very useful for us, 'cause most of our curtains were made by her. And now she's encouraging me to buy another one for myself, so I could accompany her
So i'd recommend you to look at something like this (second one): wisepick.org/janome-sewing-machine-reviews/ or something like that. If I'm not mistaken, my aunts machine is from the same model line.

I would steer clear of Lidl machines...once the bottom tension goes, they are murder to sort out. I have a thirty year old Pfaff (computerised) and has been wonderful. Have you a sewing machine shop near you? You may be able to pick up a reasonably priced machine that someone has traded in when upgrading.

I don't sew but my wife does in a big way. Her machines are 3 x Janome, 1 standard machine, 1 embroidery machine with digitiser and 1 overlocker. She also has a vintage treadle Singer with full cabinet and draws.

Me, I retreat to the man cave

We bought DGD a sewing machine for Christmas. We couldn't rise to a new one, so looked on ebay. We purchased an ex-hire machine from a School equipment hire company. It came fully serviced and in immaculate condition. DD and I tested it thoroughly. It is a current Janome model and we payed a third of the retail price of a new one.

The controls are slightly different from mine but it took 11 year old DGD only a few minutes to get the hang of it and she was away.

I have a Brother inovis. It is one of the least complicated and modestly priced computerised models. It is blissfully easy to use and has a wide variety of stitches.