my faithful back up machine is a 1956 singer 99-K...picked it up for $20...it stitches the most perfect straight stitch imaginable- is a little work horse- I love it!...best $20 I've ever spent! when I bought it made a large lonestar and for the first time ever ---every single point is perfect, every seam meets perfectly- it is my 'dream machine' (I do have a nice $800+ Janome that is a nice machine too) but for a nice straight stitch- piecing machine the singer is great.