Originally Posted by DonnaMiller

FWs are twitchy little things. They require a little more knowhow than some machines. When I got mine, there was about 15 feet of black thread wrapped around the bobbin winder and like Joe said, behind the bobbin too. I kept pulling out thread until it was "plumb silly". With the new solid state controller from Sew-Classic.com, it runs better than new. It loves oil and the constant attention. The 301 is more robust and a whole lot less trouble. I like to piece on the FW though. Just keep petting it and it will sew very well.