Poodles, I also use a sewing website www.patternreview.com
There is a tab on that site for members to write sewing machine reviews. One member has a Fashion Mate 239, she posts that this machine was made in Italy as early as 1935. It would be my guess that a machine that was made during that time period does not have drop feed dogs. I read on this board somewhere that if the feed dogs don't drop you can still do free motion quilting by using masking tape and taping a thin piece of cardboard over the feed dogs. Hope this is some help. Looking at the picture on the other website, you have a beautiful vintage machine.