Wow, that French machine is old and lovely. Tisch, I love your Kohler and its cabinet.
Plume, I did read that you cleaned lint from around the feed dogs and forgot, sorry!
Plume, Tammi -- I wonder if oiling the hook race helped with the tension?

Tammi, I just purchased the needle clamp + some more bobbins from Helen Howes! It said on her website the needle clamp I needed was sold, I emailed her anyway and she found one for me!

Miriam, I tried the 2 needles. Amazing! And, btw, while inserting them, I realized the new needle I had put in at some point was not all the way up. Oops (I wish there was an emoticon for "ashamed"). Maybe the stitches will be even better now (Is it even possible?! They were so nice already!).

Tish, your machines are super nice! They seem like new, and the Kohler cabinet is indeed beautiful. I love the last picture, it looks like a magazine photograph.

Sheila, no pb. And to be honest, I recently re-read all of everyone's advice, and if in the beginning most of it sounded like a foreign language to me, I know understand a lot more & can follow them more accurately.

My friend's wife emailed me yesterday night, thanking me warmly for the Brion machine her husband offered her.
She thinks that without all this story about my Singer, he would have trashed it without thinking twice about it.
:o

Well, I'm glad the two needles trick worked in more than one way!!! I love playing with them. The points do not come to the same level. They are not even when they are in all the way. I'm glad another fine old machine has been rescued! Glenn has the best info on restoring those. He and his wife are coming to my place in about a month and he is going to fix a few of the rescued around here. I can't wait. Here is a link to Glenn's stuff: http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...s-t193635.html You can also look at his profile and then go to started threads for more of his posts. He is very helpful with refinishing the old finishes on both the machine and the cabinet. I have seen his work at his house. He does wonderful work - everything looks like it is new.

This link is perfect, I'll forward to my friends! Thx!

Glenn has more and you can PM or email and he can answer questions.

*** Sorry for the huge response everyone. I'm catching up.

Sheluma One of these days, I'll see if I can dig up that photo. She was less than impressed, but she healed up fast once I started doing it. :)

The Slants (other than the 301) have a few things working against them as far as FMQ.

1. Horizontal Bobbin
2. Supposedly the slant needle
3. The lack of the ability to drop the feed dogs, and instead the raised plate which causes drag and I bet some tension issues.

The only reasons I ever tried it to begin with is

1. People said it didn't work, but I didn't understand why - the 201 is a horizontal bobbin, as are many of the modern machines and the 301 is a slant needle
2. I don't always drop my dogs to FMQ.

I found that the upper tension needed to be higher to not eyelash, and it seems like you have to go faster on these slants than with say a 15, hence more concentration. The biggest thing is set the stitch length to 0 and don't raise the plate (which is a non-issue on the 431) The 301 though in comparison is effortless, and you can sew at any speed you want.

The foot I FMQ with is the 161596 that you mention above. I've never seen the other one in the wild.

As far as needles, I'm definitely the wrong person to ask. I typically know which needle system to use, but as far as the application, I almost always have the wrong needle in the clamp. I caught myself piecing with a leather needle not long ago. :shock: The only thing I'm reasonably sure of is that a ball point needle is for knits, its slightly rounded tip is supposed to push between the threads instead of tearing them. How that's different from stretch? I don't know. I use topstitch for almost everything these days, and rarely do anything with knits anymore (though I should, I have no shortage of the stuff around.)

I'll check your links out, thanks :) I really should learn more about needles, but it seems like it usually just falls to the bottom of the list, because I'm not having trouble at the moment.

manicmike - Thanks!! I always find that the time is worth it with these machines. Technically, I'm not sure of the German 411 / 431s are Rocketeers (Those are the 500 and 503), but they were out at about the same time, and take a few of their styling cues from them, don't they? :)

Tisch - I think anything that will get you working on your 1/4" seam accuracy is good. That said, I'm less a piecer than a quilter. The piecing doesn't do much for me, which is why I now have a frame. A cover for your machine is not a bad one to start with. I made liners for my featherweight cases. Mug Rugs... even a lap quilt. Just beware the "Add A Row" problem - "You should just add a row..." My first "lap quilt" fits a Full bed because of that. Of course if you go in with a plan, unlike what I did, you'll be fine. ;)

plume - The post is the part that the whole tensioner is assembled on. It's held in with the screw with the red arrow on the page you linked to: http://mysewingmachineobsession.blog...f-tension.html. If it was out a little farther than it should be, it could possibly give a little more space for the discs to bop around and cause inconsistent issues. It's just a theory though without being able to see it. If that is the case though, it's a temporary fix that you have, so I'm hoping something else resolved itself.

That machine is gorgeous! I'm glad you were responsible for making sure it went to the right home.

Doubtful, but stranger things have happened. I'm concerned that plume has a temporary situation here though. Usually if I didn't have anything to do with the fix, but it's suddenly working, I think it could suddenly not work again too.

Yeah!! I'm glad she was able to help you! She was a huge help to me when I needed some things I couldn't find on this side of the world. Very nice lady.

Maybe un- and re-screwing it completely was the fix (I had done that)?

Please don't say that!!!

Thanks, me too :) Oh, and in the meantime, they found 3 more machines, 1 Singer (black & gold decorations), 1 Frigga (same), and the last one is locked inside its case, no key to be found, so they have no idea what it looks like... The wife told me she was starting a collection (her husband is gonna hate me now)!

Nooooooo! Please come over here (nice little Italian vacation) and check it for me :)

Yes!

The screw with the red arrow is the set screw. It would be a 2 part operation. unscrew it a bit, then fully seat the post (push toward the back of the machine) then tighten the set screw again. If that's what you did, it's not a temporary fix, if that was the problem.

I hope it's not a temporary fix, but we'll figure it out if it was. :thumbup:

Depending on the case, if it's a singer, a small blade screw driver in the lock may open it, as may a robertson
Unless of course it's a featherweight case, then the easiest thing to do is take it to a sewing machine shop and they may have a key to open it. No matter what though, there's almost never a need to cut hinges off or bust the case open. With a pic I can offer more help. :)

You don't want to make that offer. ;) DH and I both want to take a motorcycle trip to Italy, the only thing that holds us back is finances. ;)

Aaah, now I understand. Not sure if I pushed it though... I don't want to disassemble the tension again right now, since it works like a charm. But I'll keep it in mind in case, thanks for the explanation.

I'll forward & will ask for a picture too, if they still couldn't manage to open it.

Well, I did :) You're welcome to stay w/ us, it saves a lot! If you ever want to consider this more seriously, don't hesitate to contact me, I mean it.

It would be so much fun to travel from place to place and stay with QB members wouldn't it. I bet you could at least all the way across the US maybe even go all the way around the world.