DH brought home a Free-Westinghouse
 

I don't know anything about vintage machines, but my amazing DH found this Free-Westinghouse on Craigslist and picked it up for me. It has all the accessory feet, but no manual. The lady that sold it thought it was from the 1940's, but a quick Google search showed many of these machines listed as 1930's. I have so much to figure out before I can begin to use it. Any thoughts?
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VERY pretty and such a nice cabinet! You must have gotten every foot made for her!

She looks lovely and the table is beautiful. Enjoy!

Thanks - it's in really good condition. I have to figure out how to get her threaded to say nothing of playing with the feet she came with. Now she needs a name. Stella... that sounds like a good name for her time period.
If anyone has any tips, tricks, suggestions for using vintage machines I'd appreciate it. I've only used modern machines with drop in bobbins. I think YouTube is going to be my go to source for awhile.

You can download PDF of a manual here. The sewing machine appears to be the same as yours visually.

http://sewingmanuals.blogspot.com/20...struction.html


First thing you do is give her a good oiling in every hole and underneath every part that turns. She should use 15X1 needles and threading should be intuitive. Do check the wiring though for brittleness and bare wires. Good luck with Stella.

She's a beauty. Great hubby you have there!!

Such a wonderful thing that your husband did!!! It looks like a model 15 clone. Your going to love it!! Whenever I need to thread my 15 clones I tune into Muv's video to show me how :) . Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2tii...eature=channel

I bought one used as my only machine, trading in a worn out treadle, in 1956 and later traded it for a pink Universal zigzag in 1958. It was still doing good but I wanted the zigzag for toddler clothes. It was in a similar cabinet and I would guess it was made after the war so late 40's to 50's. But I have no real knowledge.

THANK YOU!! I just bought and downloaded the manual. The wiring will have to be replaced. It is brittle and in places has been taped. DH wants to cut it and splice on a new wire, but I'm feeling protective of Stella and may want a shop to do it. Funny how we become so attached so quickly! And I haven't even sewn on her yet!

Thank you - I'm more of a visual learner so videos are good! :)

I would love to find a way to know how old she really is. The lady selling it thought 40's as well so I will go with that.

congrats-pretty machine and pretty table too..i have a "free" that was made sometime in the first decade of 1900...and it works like a charm. it came to me for $65.00 and included all of the attachments, the original oil can and the original book (very fragile but readable). they are easy to care for as long as you remember to oil, oil, oil. 15/1 needles do just fine. i hope that you use your attachments..the hemmers are fantastic. westinghouse bought out the free company and if you read the history of these machines you will find that brother is the current company..the history and the patent application process is fascinating history of these machines.

Is there a way to find out when these machines were made? I'd love to find out - even if I can just figure out the decade. As I get time I would like to learn more about the machine and company's history. My DH paid $40 for her. I am going to see about picking up some oil after work today..... thanks for the reply!

Update: Stella is oiled and I used her last night. Going through her to oil, she is actually really clean and in very good shape for her age.
The threading was a little tricky. I was putting the thread through the needle from right to left. She would not make a stitch and the thread kept coming out. I checked everything: feed dogs, overall threading, bobbin, tension, the needle, etc. Finally as a last ditch effort I put thread into the needle from left to right and it worked! Funny how one little thing like that made such a big difference.
Anyway - she makes a really nice stitch. I figured out adjusting the stitch length, and going backwards to lock the stitch. The tension is better than on my 'modern' (but cheap) machine. Stella is a bit (ok, a lot) noisy, but we think the motor is loose. DH is going to try to find a way to tighten that up.
Ey, I've found yet another sewing addiction. :)