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.
