I can see that you really LOVE your Alden. Be nice and do commiserate with your wife and her poor machine. It is called keeping the peace. But I know what you mean. I used my Elna 7300 to do some satin stitch on a small project and what a mess it was. I ended up ripping it out and redid it on my Morse 4100. It outdid the Elna hands down.