Lisa S

[ATTACH=CONFIG]581150[/ATTACH]My daughter recently purchased this vintage Aldens sewing maching from a thrift shop. It seems to run, but there was no needle in the machine when she bought it, and the needles she's tried don't seem to fit. Any suggestions? Would also love to know more about this machine and if there's any chance of finding an instruction manual. Thanks!

Rocsew

It should take normal 15x1 needles. It appears to be a front-loading bobbin, so make sure that the flat side of the needle is to the rear.

Lisa S

Thanks so much! I'll pass that information on to my daughter.

OurWorkbench

That is a very nice looking 'dash board' machine. It doesn't look to have a lot of different stitches (unless not seeing a cam compartment ) but a lot of chrome and knobs.


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

Lisa S

Just wondering what a "dash board' machine means. Thanks!

OurWorkbench

like a car dashboard was the first hit when I googled https://www.google.com/search?num=50....0.4gnWfAJjruo

That first link describes it pretty well

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

Mickey2

It's the way the knobs and levers are displayed and grouped together on the machine, looks like a dashboard. There's probably car models with much closer resemblance than this one, but you sort of get the idea. These are found on 50s,60s and sometimes 70s models. Some models have a stitch selector similar to a vintage radio station tuner. I hope the machine will run nicely again after a bit of oiling and cleaning.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]581177[/ATTACH]

Lisa S

Never thought to compare a car and a sewing machine, but I see what you mean. Thanks!

leonf

1968 was a huge safety year for cars in the USA and controls got much subdued and less pointy. Steering wheels got crash pads too.

The horizontal rectangle at the top of the Alden looks like an old radio speaker grills.