Charlee, as I was tinkering with it tonight I found that throwing the wheel really did help her start a little easier. I remember having to do that with an old Kenmore I used to sew on in the 90's. As for the free arm.. well.. that story is a little complicated.. I bleached and dyed a pair of denim shorts but I left in the bleach bath for too long and when I washed them after the first dye process, they ripped all the way up the leg to the waistband. I was going to repair with a zig zag all the way down to prevent unnecessary fray [i.e., keep them from looking too trashy] but can't figure out how to do it without a free arm!