Originally Posted by lyndajean

Yes it is a 401A. Thanks, I could kick myself for not learning to sew years ago! Both my great aunt and my grandmother were excellent seamstresses! (my grandmother is 94!)

Originally Posted by SewExtreme

Better late than never! Sewww glad you started when you did. What year is your 401a? I know my Mom used to own one that color, just not sure which year it was. :-D

Originally Posted by vintagemotif

I machine sew all my bindings on since I dislike hand sewing. Funny thing is that I baste all my quilts using the Sharon Schamber method; don't mind that type of hand sewing since it is quick and gets removed.

Well, I now have the Davis NVF machine (walking foot machine) for attaching bindings and the machine is awesome for this. But before I acquired the Davis, I would just attach the bindings on with my Singer 201 or 15-90. I would use my walking foot and I did have some difficulty keeping things even, but then I discovered Sharon Schamber's glue method of attaching the binding down. That worked even better, but the best method for attaching that I have found is my Davis NVF.

Since I don't like the look of the straight-stitch line on the finished binding, I decided to use the decorative stitches to finish off and soften the look. At first I was using just one decorative stitch from my daughters Janome TB30 as a signature stitch, but I got bored with just the one stitch. I started using the other decorative stitches.

Then I saw that zig-zag machines can be treadled and my hunt was one for a machine with decorative stitching capability to use in treadle. So, I now use my Singer 328K for the decorative stitches. I do some test runs on small mock-ups to see how the stitch looks, but once that is done all goes quickly.

I think the decorative stitches would look so cute on the potholders. You gave me an idea for presents this Christmas, quilted potholders made from the fabric scraps. Thanks!

Originally Posted by debbiewi

I just took a picture of my cleaned up machine. when I got it, I thought most of the decals were gone, it was so black so I am thrilled with the way she looks now. In the picture the badge is showing up more gold but in person it is a shiny copper color

Originally Posted by buslady

randa, does it look like the finger is out of the notch? if it is, you must get it back in, otherwise the thing will spin and it shouldnt. i wonder if the throat plate is stuck somehow. it should come off, maybe it needs persuaded. LOL i hope u get it going. DH took mine apart to clean and now i cant get it to pick up the bobbin thread. need to find time to check her out good.