Does Your Sewing Machine have a Free-Arm Function?

Mine does!

I got the idea for this post from Gwen's blog After the dress...

I have a Viking 500 from about the mid-'90s, and it has a free-arm function.  It also has a bed extension which I usually leave on.  Here's what the machine looks like with the bed extension attached:

Here's what the machine looks like with the bed extension removed:

Here's what the machine looks like with the back of the machine bed removed to reveal the free arm:

Does Your Sewing Machine have Speed Control?

Mine does!

I got the idea for this post from Gwen's blog After the dress...

I have a Viking 500 from about the mid-'90s, and it has speed control.  It appears as a stack of lines just to the right of the word SPEED on the left side of the screen.

Set at 2/3 height, this limits my maximum sewing speed to a medium speed.  Set at 1/3 height, it limits my maximum sewing to a slow speed.  Set at full height, it allows me to go as fast as the machine's maximum speed, whatever that is.  At any speed setting, I can still control the speed with the foot pedal, but cannot go any faster than the maximum speed setting.