Never Planned to Do This!
 

I love reading this forum, but I never planned to enter the vintage machine fray myself. The best laid plans...

I have been given a machine. It doesn't work, it was free, so I figure, "What damage could I do?"

I am having some trouble finding info, but I'm still plugging away (searching "free" as in the Free company, is problematic--I keep getting "free" as in no cost!).

I will post pictures as soon as she agrees to a photo shoot. :) For now, she was manufactured by Free, electrified by Westinghouse, and badged "The Lark." I have a number from a plate, but I don't know if it is model or serial. I'd like to get her working and maybe mount her as a treadle--I'm no electrician!

Thanks for all the info here--I'm so looking forward to cleaning her up.

Sounds like you got bitten by the Vintage bug, just know that if you scratch, the collection will spread from room to room.

If I had a really old machine, I'd consider posting to the victorian sweatshop forum. They are really good with the old stuff.

bkay

Boy, do I understand about searching for info that has kind of a double meaning.
Here are a couple searches that are site specific about the sewing machine.
for quiltingboard <hot link
for needlebar <hot link
There are quite a few results on the above links, a lot to wade through, but at least they are mainly about "Free" & "Westinghouse"

and then here are a couple at ismacs specifically for Free
http://ismacs.net/free/manuals/freevs-c-e-ce-manual.pdf
http://ismacs.net/free/home.html

The stickey about cleaning
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...v-t167789.html basically is wiping with cotton balls and sewing machine oil. Some patience may be needed to get it going again, but cleaning and oiling is a good start.

I did see that "Lark" was a badged name for both Free and Davis on Needlebar. I didn't see with a quick glance through the search results for pictures of the Free Lark.
Have fun getting your machine going again.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

My cousin just found a manual! Yay! We aren't sure just who this belonged to or when--I feel like Miss Marple!

Thanks so much. I'm in new territory here. (And if I stutter, it's the *blessed* autocorrect.)

I know--one more virus I REALLY don't need! :) But, she is so pretty!

Sounds like you have something close to this by Free:

https://offerupnow.com/item/detail/1...g-machine-Lark

I have a Waltham M that is the same model and is missing it's shuttle. If you could take a pic of the shuttle when you get around to taking pics I'd be grateful.

Jon

I 'obtained' a Free sewing machine last year from friends. It's ser is 890292. Apparently I also didn't find much info on it as I tagged it as pre 1930, long shuttle and peacock decals. It was a nice addition to my collection.

I see we are both in SW MO.