My 401 takes cams so has a number of stitches including zz. It also has built in stitches, including zz. It easily sews through heavy quilts - and without a walking foot! (I could use one if I wanted.) It is easy to see the needle and what you are working on. You can use two needles in it. There are two ways to thread it. It's not fussy. It's a great machine with a lot of good features and few drawbacks. It does like to be used frequently or the grease on the gears can get thick. And I don't like the way the feed dogs "drop"; basically, it raises the sewing surface instead. I've never tried free motion quilting on it; it has a horizontal bobbin and the best vintage fm machines have vertical bobbins. It is not an intuitive machine, so be sure you get a manual, which you can get online. If I could keep only a handful of my machines, my Singer 401 would be one of them.