I had to read this thread seeing that all I own are vintage machines and only use treadle machines exclusively. For me I use all of my functions (straight stitch) all of the time but if I wanted to do any decorative stitches I have attachments for that. I do have a Singer 500A that has all sorts of stitches and you can shovel cams off in her for the really fancy stuff like embroidery but I never use it so that is why I am selling it right now in the classifieds.
I think it is just a marketing ploy to get you to buy the machine because you can do all of this neat stuff with the machine. But you have to admit they have some really pretty stitches on the new machines!
But for me the zig zag feature is for putting buttons on my shorts when they pop off! And that is the only reason I am keeping my Purple Kenmore! :lol: :lol:
Billy