Kenmore 10 Model 385.1249
 

I was just given this machine, but know nothing about it. It's real clean, but does not sew. It powers up, but when I push the foot pedal the needle goes down and that's it. Is it worth fixing? The lady who owned it is in her 90's and no longer sews. She has memory issues; said she bought it in the 90's but I think it's older than that. Any information on it would be most appreciated!

They are often worth it, your machine has some nice stitch patterns. I would go over the oil points, take the top and throat plate off. Part of the casing around the free arm probably comes off too. Turn the hand wheel by hand, inspect gears carefully for lint, piece of thread, piece of broken needle, etc. Sometimes plastic gears can crack, on a good model they are well worth replacing. Ceck belts if there are any. With a bit of luck, cleaning and oiling is all you need to get it going again.

I would pull the bobbin out and inspect there with a flashlight, sometimes thread gets stuck in there and causes grief. It looks like a nice machine.

It doesn’t appear to be threaded correctly in your photo, but it’s hard to tell without a closeup of the tension area.

Thank you for the comments.

You know what...I didn't even re-thread it. It came to me that way so you might be right about that sewjourner.

Mickey2-I'll follow your instructions and see where that leads to :-)

Please let us know.

I re-threaded it and it works!! I feel a little silly for not doing that first. I am going to recruit my hubby to help me open it up. I need to get some oil as I am guessing it's been a long time since it has had any.

Wonderful! Thanks for getting back to us. Enjoy your new machine!

You should also put a new needle on it. This fixes a lot of problems too.

Oh that's another good suggestion...will do :-)