I think a lot of machine manufacturers wanted to make the newest and best. So they made machines that can embroider (did you know an embroidery machine actually only uses a straight stitch), could do all those wonderful decorative stitches, could even stitch a horizontal seam (higher end ones stitch sideways), had self threaders, could free motion quilt, could have needle up/down, could program your own modified stitches including decorative ones. Well, I think they made a mistake as actually very few of us use those decorative stitches. I think they should have kept their top of the line piecing machines with that narrower feed dogs and just added the extra wonderful things like needle up/down. When they made those machines that "can do everything" they messed up the things that made for wonderful piecing of the quarter inch seam. Ha! I could redraft every quilt pattern I want to do and replace the 1/4 inch seam with a 5/8ths inch seam and I bet my newer machine would piece up a storm. Umm, I may have to try that with a simple nine patch and see how it goes. I think that is some of the attraction with the old straight stitch machines....that is all they can do...and they do it well! So, more thought is being given to get that cabinet insert made for my little 215 Bernina and then she could live in my cabinet and I could be piecing while my new, fancy, Bernina 590 sits on top of the cabinet to the side and happily embroiders up a storm. Ha, the 590 could stitch the fancy embroidered quilt blocks while I am using the litte 215 to stitch them together, win, win.