miriam

You are VERY welcome. Nothing worse than repeating a mistake and not knowing what you did wrong.

lolthom

NOT, a Franklin (1926) the wheel turns away from you, and boy is it a bugger to remember that. Then I use another machine and have to reset my brain to "turn wheel forward" Fun times!!
Linda

miriam

Thread jam on any machine is Sssoooo frustrating. Draw big arrows on the balance wheel of that Franklin with sharpie. I did...

MFord

I have an old Kenmore where the hand wheel turns away...never use it, actually.

leonf

Miriam posted " To me a hand crank goes the wrong way, too"

I am certain that she know this, but for non handcrankers; The gears in the handcranks reverse the direction of power and give it a 1:3 ratio of revolutions. At least for Singers, anyway.

leonf

Thread jams can be helpful. I love it when someone sells me a machine cheap because it won't move and I find a thread jam.

miriam

So can too much lint in the bobbin area... Sssshhhhhh

cashs_mom

Thanks, Miriam. My mom taught me well when I learned to sew on her 301. She told me to always make sure the take up lever is all the way to the top and never turn the wheel backwards and that has served me well.

ragamuffin

I am short, 4'10" and my Mother was short. Every time I went home to visit her she would ask me to look at her machine. She would thread the machine but she did not have the thread "flossed" in between the 2 discs at the top tension. I find myself standing up to thread my machine now because I cannot see if the thread gets in the right place.
I think this is a mistake for a lot of people. Of course, I have to stand up to iron too.

leonf

ragamuffin,
if you are using your own machine, why not just cut the legs shorter on the cabinet. One size Never fits all.