Thread: Who knew?! old New Home JA 1508 - sews great/can FMQ on it!!

Last night I pulled out my old sewing machine (and the only other machine I have owned). It is a New Home JA 1508 model sewing machine. Very basic, has a few decorative stitches, uses dials to set stitch length and so forth, nothing fancy (no needle up/down). Stitch was great, looked as good or better than what I get on my Janome 4800. Fabric fed through great (chain piecing).

Back when I was looking to upgrade to a more "modern" machine, one of the reasons was that I wanted to learn to FMQ. I was under the impression that the feed dogs had to drop or it was a no-go. Until I started reading on this forum - I still believed that (thought the machine would blow up or something if one tried it without dropping the feed dogs! ). First I tried it with the darning plate on (my FMQ foot from my 4800 fits this machine). It worked!! Seemed a little bit harder to move the fabric, so I decided to try without the darning plate. Even better!! I did try FMQ on my 4800 in this manner (feed dogs still up) - didn't seem to work as well for me as with the feed dogs dropped. But was thrilled to see it working in this older machine.

While I probably wouldn't FMQ on this machine (harp space is just a bit smaller than on my 4800), it is nice to know that in a pinch, on a smaller project, I could do it. Also, am thrilled with my new sewing machine set up. Two machines, one set up for FMQ practice, the other for piecing. I will practice my FMQ more if I don't have to change everything around on my machine to go back and forth between piecing and quilting.

Now I just want to figure out some sort of carrying case for this machine (so if I take a class I can take this one).

Yes, I've tried FMQ on several of my vintage Singers that don't have the ability to drop the feed dogs and I've found that the 185 FMQ's beautifully! Though, like you mentioned the harp size would make me not use it as it's a 3/4 size machine.

Love the older machines. My 2 1940's Singers have the most beautiful straight stitch. I love them for piecing and straight top stitching.

remember, the majority of machine embroidery for professional design houses is done on straight stitch machines with truly talented seamstresses doing FMQ (I guess that would be FME) totally by hand... most of it in our neighbor...Mexico... and they are doing thread painting... not just an occasional line of quilting... the machines help us do it easier, but the machine doesn't have the talent...the operator does...

Dawn, I just dug my old New Home JA 1508 out of the closet! However, I'm unable to get the bobbin situated into it's case correctly. Is there any chance you could snap a photo of your bobbin in the case and sent it to me? My e-mail is tonirossmiller@yahoo.com. I found your post by Google-ing "New Home JA 1508", looking for help on-line. My other options seem to be to purchase an owners manual. My manual is long-gone. Thank you so much. Toni

Toni - no problem, I can do that for you. I still have my manual as well, so could pdf info to you if you need it.

I am at work all day, but can snap some pictures tonight. With regard to the bobbin, I can tell you that the thread should be coming off of the bobbin to the left (counter-clockwise). Trying to remember the case. Hard to do, have been busy playing with a vintage machine and using my 4800, so once again the 1508 is unused.

Some of the older machines do drop the feed dogs, maybe not so easily as in a more "modern" machine,so if you have a manual or can get a manual for your machine, yours might drop or not.