I'm not an expert, but I'm thinking they would not be the best choice for free motion quilting because of the distance between the needle and sewing machine. You'd probably want that area to be larger than the vintage one seems to be (but I'm not sure). Unless you plan on free motion quilting little things (placemats, wallhangings, etc.)....I'd say it probably wouldn't work for you. You will also want the feed dogs to be able to be lowered....not sure if the vintage ones can do that. I'm sure some of the vintage machine enthusiasts would be able to better answer your questions. Good luck!