I want to make my wide an electric bobbin winder with a foot pedal to control the speed. My local salvage store (Wacky Willies) has a bunch of motors but I am not sure if I should get an AC or DC motor. I bought a foot pedal there last year which looks like it came off a sewing machine. If I get a DC motor, what do I need in terms of a transformer.
Thanks.
If your wife reads this board, I’m not sure that improving her sewing tools will be sufficient. 
I meant "wife. And no, that is not a freudian slip, she is really skinny.
By far the easiest way to have variable speed is a dc motor.
What you need in terms of a transformer will depend on what motor you get.
Besides just a transformer, you will need some type of rectification and a simple capacitive filter would be a good idea.
Depending on the current demands of the motor, picking a variable resistance to put inline with the motor may be the most interesting part. Typical potentiometers and variable resistors would overheat very quickly driving much of a motor.
You beat me to it.
Just as a suggestion, why don’t you find an old variable speed sewing machine at a yard sale or flee market, take the motor and foot control off of it, and power your bobbin winder with it?
To me, that sounds a lot easier than shopping around for motors and controls.
…and you can make it as wide as you want too. 
Mmmmmm… I would have to disagree. While your approach would work, it would be a needlessly inefficient way to do it.
If you want simple and efficient, then I would go with a regular brush-type AC motor. Hook a light dimmer to the foot pedal, and away you go.
Thanks, that is just what I did and it works great.