I'm sure someone must have asked for this previously, but I don't see it anywhere here (even searching for it).

In several other vector tools you can define brushes which stretch the entire length of a stroke rather than repeating. This is very useful for creating more natural strokes from patterns you create within the package. Imagine trying to draw flames of varying lengths using a 'flame' brush you've created. Currently, you'd see loads of variously rotated versions of the flame you created rather than the desired effect.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather use Xara than Illustrator or Inkscape any day, hence the request. ... :-)