Originally Posted by lalaland
I think you can free hand embroider on any machine.
On my mom's 1940's Kenmore, we put the stitch length on zero and released the tension from the tension bar and you could sew in any direction. We didn't add a darning foot, we just removed the foot and stitched.
On my old Brother VX, which is 25 years old, you put the stitch length on zero and put a plate over the feed dogs (the plate came with the machine), add a darning foot and you can embroider or free motion.
Thanks, Lalaland - forgot to mention stitch length to zero.
Also - try ebay for books on machine embroidery - once were sold prior to newer embroidery-specific machines.