I believe you are talking about Crazy Quilts. They are super fun, and you could do a version of them on a vintage machine as long as you are able to do a zigzag stitch. It's a zigzag in either a monofilament or matching thread that holds the decorative elements down. With my Singer 353, I use a zipper foot for narrow bulky items like yarn or piping and a walking foot for flatter items like rickrack. There are many 3rd party feet for the older Singer so perhaps someone has made a cording foot by now; that would make it easier to apply. The other thing you can do is to try is bobbin drawing. I've never been brave enough to try that, but I was able to run a 28wt thread through the top to get a more pronounced stitch (beautiful in a zigzag over seams). And, of course, you can always add a bit of hand embroidery (or find already embroidered fabric to cut up) to really make it fun.
Wanted to add that there are newfangled machines that will do all of that stuff with specialized programs & feet & whatnot. Some machines have hundreds of decorative stitches to choose from, have feet for applying all the decorative elements easily, and will even do computerized embroidery & stitching. While those are definitely nice, there are plenty of lovely projects that can be done on vintage machines -- as were the original crazy quilts.
PS - The Craftsy Class you referenced, Stupendous Stitching, is not compatible with your machine. Those are all pre-programmed stitches on fancy embroidery machines & higher end computerized sewing machines. If you have at least a thousand dollars to spend on a machine, I'm sure members would be happy to make recommendations.
