This Singer machine belongs to our quilting group here at our winter home RV park. It hasn't been used in years, as far as I know, is pretty dirty and the tension is off. But, it sews great (except for tension of course). It just sews a straight stitch and a zigzag.

The model number is 247. I'd like to know its vintage and the website where you can get manuals for older machines

Thanks so much for all your help!

You can find the info and manuals at www.singerco.com

I don't know if this will work or not, but here is a link to a manual.

http://www.parts.singerco.com/CPpart...42_247_248.pdf

I have saved this, so if you can't get it from the link, PM me and I will email it to you.

If you were to adjust the tension, would it solve your problems? Are you just using it for straight lines, or are you trying to perform miracles? From the picture you posted, it looks very clean to me. I'm sure you did what you could to gussie it up prior to sewing. As far as the vintage, my guess is mid' 60's. That was sort of a pre-cam era. The later 60's is when boxes of cams were part of the package, and in the mid to late 70's is when cams were a thing of the past.

I tried adjusting the top tension, but I'm pretty sure the problem is in the bobbin tension. I looked under the machine, but don't know where the bobbin tension is! No, I don't want to perform miracles, just use for straight stitch.

So you looked under the machine, does that mean it has a bobbin case? Most Singers have a drop in bobbin directly in front of the feed dogs.

I know you don't have access right now, but one other thought I had was is the needle in correctly? My friend, Karen could not figure out why her Singer was skipping stitches. She had the needle inserted improperly. The older singers used the rounded needles. They needed to be threaded from left to right. Thank god, they switched to newer types so the flat back of the needle left for no mistakes. But still, the older types still require the rounded types.

That's not quite right. Older Singers used both rounded and pointed needles, depending on what was being sewn. The rounded needles are called ball point needles and are for sewing polyester fabrics. The ball shape of the point pushes the fibers aside, rather than piercing them. Pointed needles (sharps) are for use with natural fibers (cotton, linen, silk, etc.), because they pierce the fibers. Ball point needles were not the only needles you could use on the older Singers. I bought my first Singer in 1971, and changed needles depending on what type of fabric I was sewing on, though that was when doubleknit was all the rage, so I did use ball point needles a lot. To make things even more confusing, the universal needles can be used in place of either ball point or sharp needles, as they are slightly less pointed than sharps, but not as rounded as ball points.

Quilters use sharps because they are sewing cotton fabric, but if you are sewing garments using knit fabrics, you would use ball point needles.

I think she meant the actual needle is round rather that having a flat side where you insert it.

[quote=bjnicholsonI think she meant the actual needle is round rather that having a flat side where you insert it.[/quote]

Well, that's still not quite right, because my 1971 Singer and my 1964 Singer FW both use flat-sided needles.