janeite, I agree with Joe Miller, from what I've read you can't get the cam stack "out of time." And that you may need to shorten, or tighten, your stitches to make them look right.

There is one other place to oil that I don't think has been mentioned and I wish I had a photo to show it to you, but I'll try to describe it. If you open the left-side door and look in at the needle bar, there is a round-ish thing to the right of the needle bar (as you look at it from the front of the machine). It's called the plunger and it goes in and out as the needle bar swings right and left when doing zigzag stitches. Oil it and see if that helps.

Tate

Well I have got my machine going! With use I think she will only get better. Tate I know exactly what part of the machine you are talking about, I oiled that a few days into my adventure with the machine and I see how it would be important to the special stitches since it moves the needle back and forth.

I feel kind of silly, since maybe this is obvious to everyone else: the decorative stitches work best when I put the stitch length selector in the fine area. They work when I go down to larger stitches, but the pattern usually shows up as zig zag in a stretched out way that follows the basic pattern shape. Is this typical of the machines, or something that will change with time and more use?

It is typical to have to put the stitch length in the Fine area. That is what pulls the stitches together to make the nice pronounced patterns. That's why I said to do it that way.
Every machine that we have that is capable of decorative patterns needs to have the stitch control in or near the FINE area to make the best stitches.

Joe

Charlene, I am working on a 221 that smokes, I took the motor apart, cleaned everything, put it together. It works,light goes on but it still smokes.

How long did you run your machine smoking?