I have made so many cool items. Luckily there are lots of online video's on how to clean, maintain and troubleshoot. Also, the instruction manual, box, online description, ANYTHING should tell the size of the bobbin. It is literally not listed anywhere and of course google was wrong. It is just a 15 plastic bobbin, NOT 15j and not metal. Just FYI because Singer did not find it important enough to list anywhere, but important enough to say everywhere to use the correct bobbin. I wish I had done better research before thinking singer was end all be all. But for a beginner and the options it offers, I really can't complain. I literally sit at my sewing machine 5-7 days a week for a couple of hours. You will need to get a nice cleaning kit, plenty of needles, decent thread (NOT the singer "tackle box" though- really crappy thread). LOVE the needle threader, makes life so much easier. I am still learning, so maybe that is why some things bother me, but thought I would pass along.