A zig-zag sewing machine equipped with pattern cams and a pattern cam selection arrangement has a compartment in which various accessories of the sewing machine are accommodated. One lid covers the compartment and another lid overlies the above-mentioned lid, the lids being provided, at their surfaces facing one another, with a table of indicia and with lines connecting the indicia with other indicia provided on a pattern cam selector dial so as to enable the user of the sewing machine to adjust the sewing machine for the particular selected stitch pattern. The lids are mounted for pivoting on a common shaft, and a sliding element is mounted on the shaft for displacement therealong and is visible when the one lid is either open or closed, the position of the slide element being selected in dependence on the selected pattern and also being indicative of the accessory to be used. An arresting arrangement arrests the lids in their closed positions for sequential release toward their open positions, and includes two latching elements each of which engages one of the lids, and a connecting element which connects the latching element associated with the one lid to the latching element associated with the other lid only when the other lid is in its open position.