When In Doubt, RTFM
Vintage sewing machines sometimes come with their manuals. Of mine, however, the only one possessing that distinction is the 128 my inlaws gave me. The rest... well, I've acquired a manual for the 15 off eBay, and wait patiently for originals to come up for the 401 and the 101. Ebay is a wonderful resource for these kind of things.
I googled the problem I'm having with the 101, and multiple results seem to indicate that the problem is likely either (a) needle is not set in correctly, (b) thread is coming off the bobbin in the wrong direction, or (c) a combination of both.
Now, Singer may make crappy sewing machines these days, but one thing they do right is having the vintage manuals on their website available for purchase ($15 for a spiral-bound photocopy) or download. So I've downloaded and printed out the pages having to do with the bobbin and needle, and will take a second look tonight. Hopefully it will turn out to be simple user error.
I googled the problem I'm having with the 101, and multiple results seem to indicate that the problem is likely either (a) needle is not set in correctly, (b) thread is coming off the bobbin in the wrong direction, or (c) a combination of both.
Now, Singer may make crappy sewing machines these days, but one thing they do right is having the vintage manuals on their website available for purchase ($15 for a spiral-bound photocopy) or download. So I've downloaded and printed out the pages having to do with the bobbin and needle, and will take a second look tonight. Hopefully it will turn out to be simple user error.