I am a sewing machine freak and have machines ranging from an early 20th century hand crank to an Ellisimo Gold. I love some of my vintage machines, but since I bought the Ellisimo I haven't used the others very much. There is a Kenmore 18023 that I turn to when I'm going to do a lot of straight sewing, just to save wear and tear on the more expensive machines. The Kenmore is an excellent machine for it's time, but I don't do FM on it because, although it has every attachment ever made for it, that does not include a darning foot because of the peculiar design of the super high shank style. The main reason I use it instead of my mom's old Elna or the 1972 Bernina 830 or the Featherweight, etc. is because the Kenmore happens to be in a wonderful cabinet in a very accessible location. I ought to cut back on my collection because my heirs will not be happy having to deal with them all. Computerized machines spoiled me with features like the needle threader and being able to adjust the needle position in tiny increments. The Ellisimo can fill a bobbin while I'm sewing. I bought it used and have put
many hours of additional sewing and embroidery on it. I added 10 million stitches in about the first year and a half, and the only problem I've had is thread lock from when a thread broke and recoiled into some moving parts. This can be a problem on something that makes 1000 stitches per minute. Maintenance is expensive, but I'll part with it when they pry it out of my cold dead fingers (or if I get a newer model someday
).