so, i really do not understand why it would be taught to only go left to right or right to left. my long arm stitches up and down...it does not feed, or pull in any direction, it simply goes up and down. the carriage the machine sits on moves in any direction i want it to go in, and has nothing to do with the machine stitches. poor quality stitches have to do with not moving the machine smoothly, speeding up on curves, moving the machine faster than the stitch speed is set. it is easy to sew in any direction i want to go, the carriage lets me go in circles or any direction i want. as long as tension is set correctly and my speed is consistant it does not matter at all what direction i go in