ONLY SEWING MACHINE OIL in a sewing machine. Other products gum up and an organic one like olive oil would probably go rancid. Also if it is an older, mechanical machine use some petroleum jelly (original vasoline) to lubricate the gears --- I usually buy Singer lubricant to do an old machine I have once a year. This all said, it doesn't hurt to pay the clean and repair person $90. They go all the way through the machine and vacuum, dust, oil and lube and make sure things are timed. They can also spot burrs on throat plate covers, etc. I also have a machine from twenty years ago that says it doesn't need oiled as the metal parts are impregnated with oil that is released when the machine is used. So if I haven't used it for some time I put a drop of oil here and there and then run it without thread for several minutes and then thread and do some basic sewing with it before going all out on a project.