Nancy,

Several models of the Free-Westinghouse VS machines use the 15x1 needles. The rotary machines use the shorter CC needle. Then to completely confuse you i have a 3/4 sized Free-Westinghouse VS from 1920 that uses the longer 20x1 needle.

Cathy

Makes sense to me! I doubt I will be tweaking the pivots on the treadles. My husband likes to make the adjustments on the treadles, but he leaves the machines for me to play with.

That also explains why the leather belt started to fray faster when I changed the machine into the regular treadle.

So Nancy, Cathy came to the rescue. :) Thanks!

OMG!!!! Wish one of our Board members who lives in the NY area would go buy her for me. I would gladly pay shipping to get her to MS!! Isn't Favorite Fabrics in NY? I wonder if it is still available or if the seller would ship?

A-ha! Thank you, Joe and Cathy! A new bobbin case will be my next purchase then.

I will also try flipping that washer.

Regards,
Carrie

I have to see the 3/4 sized Free Westinghouse! Is it gold too or decaled pretty? Yes, just when you think you have got this sewing machine stuff figured out - someone throws in a wrench! Geeze, if we are depending on the sites like ISMACS to figure out needle size - then there is the exception thrown in - only a person like you who has 25 + years experience with these machines would know about these things! How interesting!

Nancy

Yep, makes sense to me too. Luckily, I have not had to tweak any of my treadles! My Betty (Davis Vertical Feed) is by far the hardest/most work out to treadle. I think that is probably because I only use her to put bindings on Queen/King sized quilts, and because she has to 'walk' the quilt to sew!

Nancy

Geeze, Charlee that is an interesting article. Reminds me of what Glenn says about the fact that the wood is dead and doesn't need feeding or something like that. Glenn, I'd like to see your observations on that article. Does that mean I have to quit using Liquid Gold on my cabinets - I love the way they shine when I use it?

Nancy

Yep, I can pick up some of the needles for you and bring them to Girls Night Out Saturday evening!

Nancy

Have any of you tried using metallic thread on your 401a's or a similar machine? Yesterday, I changed needles (to a metallic needle), re-threaded several times, put the metallic thread on a spool behind the machine so the thread could relax before it hit the thread guides, played with the tension, did everything I could think of to get my new 401a to accept the metallic thread! No go - I spent an hour going 5 inches, cutting the bobbin thread off every 1/2" or so when it jammed, removing the slide plate, cleaning the bobbin area, re-threading the bobbin - everything I could think of! I would sew a 1/2 inch or so then it jammed up - had to cut the bobbin thread off underneath due to a huge mess. I switched to a 50 weight DMC thread and didn't have any issues at all? I really wanted to use metallic thread on a little Patchability I was doing!

Nancy

I tried to edit the post to add that our Glenn has been telling us this for a long time, but my computer was acting up! :)