Today's sewing machines are high-tech _ and high-cost.

Byline: Mary Beth Breckenridge

Frugality, make way for flamboyance.

Sewing machines, once the tools of the thrifty, are becoming the toys of the affluent. Some of today's machines can sew circles _ or perhaps custom-designed floral frames _ around the straight-stitching clunkers of the past.

The top-of-the-line machines can cross-stitch a sampler for you, replicate your dog's likeness on a pillow or embroider Elvis' sneer on your hip pocket. "You can even make designs on toilet paper," sewing machine dealer Bob Barnes points out.

He's not kidding. A roll adorned with dainty blossoms _ for decorative purposes only, of course _ is displayed at his Barnes Sewing Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Sewing machines have changed because sewing has changed, says Nancy Jewell, a spokeswoman for Viking Sewing Machines in Westlake, …