Scultures are brewing (I think)
As much as I love (and am quite challenged by) the painting work that I’ve doing, I still can’t get away from my desire to work more “hands on”. Couldn’t resist this picking this old Singer 328k pretty cheaply from an estate sale two weeks ago, along with a bag of vintage embroidery pattern transfers circa 1900-1940s. While I have been ever so slowly teaching myself garment construction on my regular sewing machine, this sewing machine screams “Make some sculptures with me!!!” Well, if I can get it up and running that is. So far, I’ve been able to get it from not running at all (totally locked up), to running inconsistently. So far I have taken the machine apart, cleaned and oiled to best of my amateur ability, and taken the handwheel and belt off to clean and inspect. Hoping more tlc is all that’s needed, else I’m running out of ideas :). 
Jayne Peña Art 
These are good machines, I’ve got one myself! The motor may appear a bit aneamic at first, but all it needs is running it. Just do some quilting or monogramming or something – the machine needs to run. Run, clean, oil, run… That’s all that’s needed!
Don’t worry if the machine suddenly seizes up – that’s most likely just a clot of old thick oil loosened up somewhere. Clean, oil – that should do it. I use 3-in-1 in such situations, it is excellent for dissolving old oil. But you must NOT use it for regular oiling because it solidifies itself after some time! Use it in the beginning to get the machine run smoothly, then simply oil with a regular sewing machine oil and you’ll be fine.
Good luck! 🙂
Thanks for the advice! About an hour or two after I posted I was finally able to get it up and running consistently. It’s my first vintage sewing machine, and since I picked it up on a whim it sounds like I got lucky with such a reliable workhorse my first time around :). I’m excited to get to some projects on it!