Originally Posted by
SteveH
that's a beautiful 28. It looks to be in great shape. That extra bob at the bottom was something that was done on machines up until about 1910 on 20 somewhere in that range depending on the company. they were trying to show that sewing machines made stitches as good as a hand stitch. A seamstress when making a stitch would give a little tug to make the stitch tight. That's what that bob is doing, it is helping just snug the stitch. This is one of the reasons that early machines actually sew better than modern machines.
Ah, good to know! I just noticed the take up arm does the same little jig so that makes sense. How cool!
I got her threaded and made a few stitches but the top tension needs some work. It's super tight and just loosening it didn't seem to help; it's probably dirty and maybe a little rusty in there. I did get a line of stitches made but since the top tension was so tight it just puckered up the fabric like I'd pulled a drawstring. Is there anything I should know before I try to take the tension apart & clean it out? Such as bits that tend to go flying? I've never had to take apart a tension assembly before but it doesn't look that scary and I'll take pictures as I go so I (hopefully) can get it back together afterwards... I "flossed" it with some thread and got some lint out but I am sure there's more!