Could it be this easy? Just add a knob to the hand wheel? I didn’t know, but the motor doesn’t work any more, so there was nothing to lose by trying. I drilled a hole in a bit of dowel and added a screw that’s easy to remove for transport. Voila, a modern zigzag hand crank sewing machine, most useful for my small trailer where I don’t have room for a treadle base anyway!
(Even if I still had my treadle base, which I don’t.)
Hand cranking is tiring, but easier than hand sewing, and slow, but faster than hand sewing.


See? Worked just dandy, on my most recent trip to our cold new home. I had to edge a large piece of canvas and doing it on a machine surely did save my fingers.
“If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid.”
