Monkey Wards Sewing Machine
After I hit Joann Fabrics' Black Friday sale in Olympia today I went around the corner to the Goodwill nearby and found a sewing machine that needed a new home. By the looks of it I'm guessing it's an early 70s model and isn't the prettiest machine ever made but it seems solid enough and does have some features my Singers lack. For $12.50 it was kind of hard to go wrong.
All my Singers are Class 66 machines and straight stitch only. The Wards machine has around 8 built in stitches, a built in button hole feature and more importantly a vertical bobbin arrangement and feed dogs that can be disengaged if I want to try free motion quilting. From what I've read here, the vertical bobbin arrangement makes it easier to get good results.
I've powered it up and it seems to function ok though I haven't actually threaded it and tried to sew with it yet. So far the only issues I've found is the feed dog knob is stuck and I managed to find one or two stitch settings where the needle hit the pressor foot. The stitch settings are most likely operator error.
Any idea what bobbin it uses and where can I find an owner's manual?
Thanks,
Rodney
Here's a quick picture I took of it on our couch.