/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

I have no idea what I'm doing but my line of thinking is that I can make clothes with a sewing machine, right?
I remember making a small bag or pouch in secondary school with an elastic thing that tightens up the bag but I think it was complete shit. I also made a wooden CD rack I threw down my stairs in pure rage one night
Where do I start here, what machines are good. From what I can gather, I want something that was built less as a hobby machine and more as an appliance, correct? But also then I'd prefer to keep this away from people I know