Originally Posted by BoJangles
Originally Posted by mpeters1200
I had not before seen a sewing machine that didn't have zig zag on it, though now I realize they also have machines that don't have reverse. I'm learning a TON reading this shop. When the time comes, I hope I'll figure out if it can FMQ or not.
I know Glenn really likes his 66 and can't wait to hear his opinion on FMQ on the 66.
Mpeters1200, I had to laugh after reading this post! You must be very young girl! Zigzag in sewing machines didn't happen regularly until the 50's and later. Most of our vintage machines didn't even reverse, much less zigzag. The early machines that did zigzag were pretty much doing it with the help of a cam or external device. It is so funny the things we learn, things we just take for granted that we always had! I love it!
Nancy
Yes, I am. I'm going to be 32 this month. My mother had a FW that I inherited. I have to dig it out of the garage. Now, no one beat me up that it's in the garage. I put it in there to keep it safe. I didn't realize the damage that can be done to it hanging out in the garage until just recently. A friend of mine looked at it, her FW works great. She says all it needs is a bobbin case.
I came across my vintage 66 quite by accident. I was looking at the new janome 1100.00 and the new brother pq1500 is what I fell in love with. The cheapest I could find it for, brand new, was 600.00 and I thought my husband was going to have some type of shock/seizure/fit when I told him the great 'deal' it was at 600.00 new. He chopped my budget by just over 2/3. After becoming discouraged about never finding a machine with a large throat, I walked into my regular repair shop to ask about the price on my regular machine's yearly physical. He had the most beautiful machines in the shop and I just walked around and around. Then he said they were all in working order and everything. Every last machine in his shop is a vintage singer except 2 from the 70's, but even those are old. I saw my 66 sitting there and asked about her throat size. It was the exact same one I was looking at. I fell in love at first site and brought her home 2 weeks later.
I still don't know what cams are, but I did figure out the clampy things that people are talking about on here. I joined this thread at page 930 and have been trying to keep up with the current stuff and still go back and look from the beginning. I'm up to page 300 so far. I'm still learning everything.
I wish my mom would have lived long enough to see me own another Singer and have hers up and running. I did honestly think that all machines could zig zag and that you can drop any feed dogs. I'm still a newbie. The only thing I'm an expert at is my little 8 pound janome. It's only by Grace that I've not killed her yet. I was pretty rough on her the first couple of years while I was learning.
Sorry about the book. I'm literally trying to soak it all up like a sponge. Honestly, these older machines remind me of old cars, gears, cams, goodness, lots of parts!