I have looked at them My LQS has one. They do some really neat projects on it. I just can't pay that price for it. It would be lots of fun to play with. I have looked on Craigslist for one. No success yet.

Awhile back, there were instructions to use your dsm to do this stitching. I think it called for monofilament on the top and colored thread in the bobbin. Or was it the other way around? One had to adjust the bobbin tension to get the stitch. Not sure about the top thread tension.

Do anyone recall this idea for sure? How successful?

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I work at a fabric store that sells Babylock machines. Babylock has some informative videos that show you how to do some amazing 'other' things with the Sashiko machine such as making special trims by braiding yarn or embellishing with other ribbon, etc. You can even make flowers using organza material as well as doing cross stitches and feather stitches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBMuux8PaXs
Here is a link that you may find interesting and informative. Copy and paste into your browser.

I received a 4 year membership to the Babylock classes when I bought my embroidery machine - I've watched a few of the sashiko ones.

That technology has been around for awhile. I know Pfaff had machines doing that since around 2000. Those machines actually sewed a normal straight stitch, but with every other stitch being made with the monofilament (invisible) thread. This Babylock Sashiko does not use monofilament thread at all, and it actually makes a stitch, then skips a stitch, just like hand quilting a running stitch does. This is a big improvement over that previous technology. I never wanted monofilament thread on my quilts. This I like.

Even though it may be a "one trick pony" if you watch the videos, you can do plenty with it.