Jim, your poor BIL is an idjit. You have a well-equipped shop there, with some fine machinery.
Have you seen Junk Brothers on HGTV? It's a fun show in which two brothers pick up discards from the curb, give them a new life - usually as something entirely different - and return the item to the place and people where they got it. These guys have a nice industrial machine they use for upholstery and the like. Nothing girlish about them either. Sheesh. My older son recently got his first home, built in
1917, and I gave him a Singer 15 treadle (and an Elna Supermatic portable) to help complete his household. The treadle has a place of honor in the living room. He wanted a machine to patch his gear - he's a hiker, climber, camper, boater, etc. That gear does not repair itself.