I have never used a sewing machine in my life until I bought this. To put that in perspective, I'm 42 years old and a father of 2. When I told my wife I was going to buy a sewing machine, she looked at me like I was nuts. Which, to be fair, might be totally accurate, but I have no regrets about this purchase.I bought this because I hate throwing stuff away: pants that could be hemmed, knees that can be patched, whatever. Clothes are expensive, and sewing by hand is tedious.This machine comes with a great DVD that I watched once and promptly threw away. I threw it away because basically you can watch the same video on youtube without having to fiddle with a remote. I found it a lot easier to just search for "Brother sewing machine instruction video" and watch Brother's video on a tablet sitting right next to my machine.And let me say this, at first, I was pretty worried. Bobbins? What's a bobbin? Feet? Sewing machines are pretty complicated, but the instructional video was very good. I didn't know *why* I was threading the thread the places I was, but once I got it done, I sewed my first stitch! I won't say it was the cleanest job in the world, but I hemmed a pair of pants in a totally serviceable manner.After my second pair, I was rolling. I changed the thread without even looking at the video: new bobbin and all. That's how simple this device is: a totally non-sewing 42 year old can learn it in under 30 minutes. The stuff I sewed held strong and eventually even got to the point where it looked sharp (which is more a reflection on my lack of skill than any problem with the machine).I know, I'm not doing anything complicated here. I'm not making my own clothes or using really complicated stitches, but I think this machine will work for the overwhelming majority of the tasks I'll see in my household.I get that this machine wasn't made for me (the purple floral pattern is a pretty good hint), but I don't think any guy should be afraid of learning to sew. It's a great skill, and this is a great machine to start with.