I recently purchased a singer 1872 at a tag sale for $20.00 Its in great shape and easy for me to figure out. I purchased a manual on line for $4.00 I had some knowledge of sewing machines, I used to own a dry cleaning business, we had several tailors working there. I did help with the figuring out of repairs and alteration but not the actual work (sewing). I am not in that business any longer. I had always thought it would be handy to have a sewing machine at home. I have used it to do several repairs and some jean hems (watched a video on youtube) I bought some threads and notions at the $1 store. I also bought some needles at a sewing store and they check out my machine and showed me how to thread it. I also played with the tension and read about that online so I now know how to adjust it. I must saw it has a very nice straight stitch when you have the right needle and adjustment. ok here is the question the machine is a basic older model several zig zag choices, stitch length, and reverse. It does not have a bland stitch feature which I think would come in handy. I have played with the idea of doing this manually and have practiced it. Sewing a straight seam and then using the lever to zig zag one stitch to catch on the edge of the hem. Its a little tricky and maybe not worth the effort ....... what do the experts think, swap it out for another ? try to learn how to do the blind stitch ? I don't want a new plastic machine, I like the idea of older sturdy machines. Plus I don't want to invest much