Zigzaggers

Singer 221 -- the Featherweight

by Robbie Brewington, a Texan collector/repairer of vintage machines, whose brand-new sewing blog (complete with rhyming poetry!) is here

Love them, hate them, or something in between? I absolutely love my Singer Featherweights! I have two of them -- one from 1951 that I bought (in the rear in the photograph), and the other, made in 1953, that was my mom’s machine (in front). I learned to sew on my mom’s Featherweight. They are 57 and 55 years old, respectively, and still going strong!


When did you get these sewing machines? I bought the 1951 Featherweight about 6 years ago (2003).  I inherited the 1953 Featherweight when my mom passed away in 1991. 


Where did you buy them? I bought the 1951 machine on eBay. We were living on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, when Mom got her machine, so she likely purchased it in Dayton (unless she got it on a visit home, which was in Houston, Texas). I was only 4 at the time, so I sure don’t remember, and dad said she’d always had it.  

How much did you pay for them? I paid around $175 for the 1951 machine, plus about $35.00 for shipping. It came with the basic attachments (zipper, hemmer, binder feet, and a Singer buttonholer).  

According to the information here, mom would have paid around $150 for hers (1953 dollars, of course). 


How many projects have you done on this machine? Lots and lots and lots!


Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I’m going to include what I know Mom made with her Featherweight, just to give an idea of how versatile they are. Besides clothing, I remember her doing a bit of embroidery with her Featherweight (personalizing several of Dad’s shirts) and using it to make lined pinch-pleated drapes for our house in New Mexico. While we were still in Ohio, she made sails for a little dinghy-style sailboat Dad built and sail covers for a larger sailboat we bought. After we moved to New Mexico, she made another set of sail covers (different boat!) and cushion covers. When we moved to California, she made her third set of sail covers (boat #4) and second set of cushion covers. (When I hear that some people only use their Featherweights for piecing quilts, I have to laugh!) My dad ended his Air Force career by spending 3 years in Lima, Peru, and the little Featherweight came along. We had a seamstress who came to the house and had her choice of using the Featherweight or an up-to-date Read’s Sailmaker (which I’ll review later), and she much preferred the little Singer. She wanted to buy the machine, but it wasn’t for sale. 

Since I’ve owned the machines, I’ve mostly used them for clothing and purse construction, but I did make two canvas generator covers on the 1953 machine and have to say that that baby hadn’t lost her touch!

What do you like and what do you hate about it? I guess it’s pretty easy to understand how I feel about Featherweights!

 Here are the things I like: They're easy to use; easy to maintain & do your own repairs on; easy to carry with you; easy to understand the workings of; easy to get parts for; lots of accessories are available; and it makes the greatest buttonholes ever. There’s a reverse lever, so you don’t have to hold a button in with one hand while you are sewing in reverse

Plus, it’s so cute!

There are lots of websites dedicated to the Featherweights, like Gaileee's Featherweight 221 Resource Page, Singer Featherweights, and Featherweight Fanatics.

Buttonholers!

The following is a special contribution from EmilyKate, a loyal friend-of-Zigzaggers (see her sewing machine reviews here, here, and here). This wonderful and helpful bit of information will be particularly useful for owners of vintage sewing machines that only sew a straight stitch. Find EmilyKate at her blog; and if I may be so bold, I'd like to particularly recommend a lovely post about her grandmother, here -- it's not sewing-machine-related, but her thoughts about the aesthetic traditions that are passed down in families are relevant and touching. Herewith, EmilyKate introduces buttonholers:

Many sewers who use vintage straight-stitch only machines believe they can't use them for making buttonholes -- the needle has to be able to zigzag for that, right?

Actually, it doesn't! Back in the day, sewing machine companies invented clever little gadgets that attach to straight-stitch machines: They clamp onto the garment fabric and wiggle it back-and-forth and side-to-side under the needle, creating the buttonhole. The gadgets, which were called automatic buttonholers, are readily available on eBay and sometimes show up in thrift stores. Some of the brand names they were marketed under were Greist, Singer, White, and Famous. Kenmore also made one for their machines.

There are two types -- one type uses interchangeable templates for different sizes and shapes of buttonholes (straight or keyhole-shaped); the other makes only straight buttonholes the length and width of which are adjusted with levers and knobs. You can pick up either type pretty cheaply on eBay -- expect to pay anything from $5 to $25. 

It's important to make sure you buy an attachment that has the correct shank type for your machine. Most vintage machines take low-shank, side attaching attachments, but there are slant-shank variations (for slant-shank Singers, obvisously), and if you have a vintage Japanese-made machine you may need a high-shank attachment. (ed note: See Ed Lamoureux's blog here for more information about shank types.)

If you want to see a buttonholer in action, check out this video I posted on BurdaStyle!

Manuals!

by Krista

I've been getting lots of comments and emails from people who need manuals for secondhand machines that have come into their possession without instructions. Let me just say up front that I, personally, don't have any spare manuals for anything! (Though if you need to know something about a White 614, I'll happily look it up in my manual and try to answer your question.)

But other people do! It's really funny to me that one of the things the internet is so great for is finding out about old stuff. If you'd wanted a manual for an Elna Grasshopper twenty years ago, you'd have been hard-pressed to dig one up, but now, it should be very possible. I'm documenting my search for this Grasshopper manual to determine just how easy or hard it will be.

I start with the most obvious source -- a website called Sew USA sells copies of manuals for hundreds of sewing machines. I could get the Elna Supermatic or Elna Lotus books for $10 apiece, plus $5.75 shipping, but there's no Grasshopper on the list. Shucks.

Sew USA also has free threading diagrams for hundred of machines on the site. No Grasshopper, but if you need to get started with an old Kenmore or Singer, you'll have a great chance of finding your machine or a similar model. Also, a tip: If you have a store-brand machine, such as a JCPenney or Montgomery Ward, and you don't see your exact model number in the selection, take a peek at the threading diagrams for similar-era White and Kenmore machines, because there's a good chance they were made by the same manufacturers.

Since I haven't had any luck at Sew USA, I decide to send an email to Elna's customer service, which I find in a flash at Elna.com -- they should have these manuals in a file cabinet somewhere, and if anybody gets around to reading my note, I'm sure they'll be able to offer some kind of help.

Meanwhile, I'm off to eBay! After first checking on the digital pianos (doesn't this seem like the sort of thing one ought to be able to find for a good price used online? Like sewing machines? So far, no luck, but I persevere...), I wend my way through the categories to "sewing manuals & instruction" and search for Elna. For most machines, I'd search for the full model number, but since the Grasshopper is officially "model #1" I worry that my search might either turn up every Elna with "1" in its model number, or else it won't find a book that the seller has listed under Grasshopper. There are more than 60 Elna manuals on the site, but -- boo hoo -- not the one I seek!

Now I'm going to generalize a bit and head out to the miraculous Google. A search for "Elna Grasshopper manual" turns up -- hey! Zigzaggers! We're number one! Of course, we don't yet know where that manual is, so we're not helpful at this point... Then comes a site that's all about someone named Amy's gorgeous, shiny, green Grasshopper (can you tell that this is a machine I covet?), but there's no information on finding manuals. And third... what do you know! It's another sewing machine manual site. Sewingmanuals.net sells a photocopy of the Grasshopper manual for $14.99, plus $2.50 shipping. I'm not vouching personally for this site (never heard of it before, and haven't purchased anything from it), but it takes PayPal, which offers some security.

If I had a Grasshopper (sniff!) without a manual, I would certainly buy this photocopy -- $17 seems like a very reasonable price for the book that's going to let you get all the use and pleasure possible out of your green sweetie. In a perfect world, manuals would stay safe and sound with their machines, but alas, this world is obviously far from perfect. Still, it's less than twenty bucks and about half an hour of trolling the web! Hooray for technology, old and new!

Please add your manual-finding stories and strategies in the comments section, so that we'll have all the tips in one place for those Googlers who happen upon this site during their searches!

Edited to add: The nice people at Elna customer service emailed me back to say that, surprisingly, they don't have any Grasshopper manuals; BUT she said a Supermatic manual would be the closest, and she included a pdf of it in the email, for free! Definitely worth trying before you spend the big bucks...

Edited again (2/22) to add: I only just realized that the brilliant and prolific Melissa Fehr actually has a pdf of the manual for her Jo-Ann Sonata 540 (a machine a few different commenters have asked about) posted on her lovely website, here. This woman sews nonstop, and her blog is packed with pattern reviews, tips, and lovely pictures of gorgeous clothes -- check it out even if you don't want to borrow her virtual sewing machine manual!

Singer 301-A Long Bed

by Arizona Lagousakos, who blogs about her sewing, knitting, and crafting at The Craftivist -- look there, too, for pictures of the gorgeous "greenery" quilt she's been sewing on this long-bed!

Love it, hate it, or something in between? I love this machine. It has all metal parts and most parts are still easy to find online if something should break (though that's not likely unless one abuses the machine).

When and where did you buy this sewing machine, and how much did you pay for it? I bought it at an estate sale for $25 in October 2008. These machines, in the condition I bought it in, easily sell for $200 or more on eBay, so I got a great deal. A briefcase full of attachments also came with the machine (zig zagger, buttonholer, lots of feet, a few other items) -- there's a photo of them on my blog, here.

When was it manufactured? Singer 301s were manufactured in the late 1940s and 1950s. They are very tough machines and have excellent stitch quality. In addition to sewing, you can also do embroidery and quilting with it (including free-motion quilting).

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I mostly use my 301 for quilting (both for piecing and quilting), but I have also used it for garment sewing. I have a Viking 936 serger and a Viking Diamond, so when I sew garments I tend to use those since they don't require an attachment in order to change the type of stitch used.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? Overall, I absolutely love this machine. The only negative thing about it is that if you want to zig zag or do any other stitch besides a straight stitch you must use an attachment. I don't like taking time to put on an attachment for zig zagging; that's why I tend to use my Viking machines if I am sewing a garment. However, I talked to a woman who is a costumer and she urged me to get to know and use the Singer 301 buttonholer. She says it makes the most beautiful buttonholes she has ever seen. I haven't taken the time to do that yet, but I will since there's nothing like a well constructed buttonhole!

Even though I already have a Singer 301-A, if I ever saw another one at a reasonable price I'd buy it, too. I highly recommend them!

Singer 15-90

and ANOTHER gorgeous treasure from EmilyKate, whose collection I really wish I could see in person.

Love it, hate it, or something in between? Definitely love at first sight. This is a simple but utterly reliable machine that runs beautifully and smoothly. I can service it myself and expect that with proper care it will last until the next century as it is all metal, inside and out. The motor would conk out long before any of the gears or parts wear out, and it can even be converted to a treadle machine if what they say about the world's energy all running out is true.

When did you buy this sewing machine? About five years ago.

When was it manufactured? It's a Centennial-model 15-90 Singer, which means it came out to commemorate the hundredth year of business for the Singer sewing machine company. I believe they had been making this particular model since the 20s but this actual machine would have been first sold in 1950. It has a little commemorative badge on the front and is somewhat collectable to those in the know, but certainly does not command super-high prices on eBay or at antique stores.

Where did you buy it? An opshop in South Yarra, Melbourne (Australia), that I was always finding fantastic haberdashery bargains at -- it has sadly now closed.

How much did you pay for it? $50 Australian. It was in perfect condition, with its bentwood cover unscratched and undented. Its original accessory box was tucked inside with a few feet and bobbins.

How many projects have you done on this machine? I bought this little beauty mainly for her looks, but thought she'd also come in handy as a backup if my regular machine was in for repairs for a long period. I soon discovered that her beautiful straight stitch and strong motor make her an indispensable little workhorse in her own right! I have sewn denim, shirts, skirts, and home dec projects -- pretty much everything. Nowadays, since I have picked up several mechanical buttonhole-making attachments, I keep her pretty much permanently set up as a buttonhole machine.

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. ALL my buttonholes get done on this machine, obviously using one of the buttonhole attachments I've collected. Many sewists agree that buttonholes made on these vintage machines using the old-school buttonhole attachments are superior to the buttonholes that can be made with newer machines, and they are without a doubt more consistent in size and shape; but I'll tell you about the buttonhole attachments in another review!

Singer machines of this era are sought-after by quilters because their narrow feed-dogs and narrow straight-stitching foot make it easy to sew perfect quarter-inch seams. I haven't made any quilts on mine but I might in future.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? It's very large, and being all-metal is slightly heavier than the average boat anchor. But she's not going anywhere so that doesn't matter.

HG Palmer Princess

by EmilyKate, who recently reviewed her gorgeous Husqvarna 21, and is now sharing another of her beauties!

Love it or hate it, or something in between? Ooooh, who could catch a glimpse of this beauty and not fall instantly in love? My sister snagged it at a seaside opshop, and I know she must love me because she then gave it to me! It looks like something Elvis would have DRIVEN, rather than something to sew with; but it's not just good-looking -- it operates beautifully.

When did you buy this sewing machine? My sister got it about six months ago, photographed it artfully, and then turned it over to me.

When was it manufactured? Going by the styling, I think around late fifties to late sixties. It's been difficult to find anything out about this machine, as it is what they call 'badged'-- basically, back in the days of the big department stores, a store would order generic machines from a (usually Japanese) manufacturer, and then put their store logo on it and sell it as their own brand. HG Palmer's was a Sydney, Australia, department store. I managed to find a manual online that a person in Sydney had scanned after finding an identical machine. "Princess" is quite similar in many ways to a Janome machine I have from the seventies, but I believe the HG Palmer stores folded sometime in the late sixties. 

Where did you buy it? Wonthaggi, Victoria, Australia!  The seaside opshops always seem to have the best scores!

How much did you pay for it? I think my sister paid around $15 Australian.

How many projects have you done on this machine? I sewed a shirt, and I've tried out the embroidery stitches on other projects. It came with a set of cams that are like no cams I've ever seen for other machines -- Princess's cams look like... well, they look like little nipples! A little door opens on the top of the machine and you stick them over a little knob. It's all a bit rude!

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I've used the embroidery stitches to embellish projects. I've tried it on denim and the stitches stayed straight and true, with no strain on the motor.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? Well there's nothing I hate, but it is HUGE and heavy. Definitely not a portable. It doesn't have a buttonhole. One of its funny little features that I love is that the light shines though a little grille, which has a kind of fly-screen installed in it to stop any curious moths from getting inside and gumming up the works!

Singer 247

by Karencilla, who has such a fun blog at Little Sweet Hearts -- her mix of sewing projects, photography, and pop culture criticism is really unique.

Love it, hate it, or something in between? It's my first love and always will be. It is my first sewing machine, and without a doubt my favorite. I kind of rescued it from obscurity and weather inclemency. Sometimes she (I like to think it is a she) is little bit stubborn but most of the time, sweetness.

When did you buy this sewing machine? Actually, it belongs to my mom. She doesn't use it as much as I do; usually, she uses it for repairs and fitting. She lent it to my sister and me when we began sewing classes. My sister stopped sewing, so now I'm almost the only one using it.

When was it manufactured? Sometime between 1974 to 1980.

Where did you buy it? I asked her and she can't remember -- oh, well.

How much did you pay for it? She paid around $100 in 1979. Now, if you are lucky you can buy one for $50.

How many projects have you done on this machine? A LOT! All my creations were made with this beauty. The only things I haven't sewn are jeans, coats, and knit sweaters. Originally, this machine series was not made to sew stretchy or thick fabrics. It was made to sew lighter fabrics.

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I have made dresses, blouses, skirts, home décor accessories, bags, and done repairs.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? I like how easy it is to use -- no complications. I love that it has a dial that adjusts the pressure of the presser foot, and I like the configuration of the thread tension dial because it uses numbers (better than + and - symbols). The best thing about this machine is the durability; the metal body makes it almost indestructible. I couldn't believe it when my mom told me that she bought it in 1979-1980 -- it's 28 years old, and still working wonderfully. I just need to oil it once in a while. The few things that bother me are not having a zipper foot, which makes it almost impossible to sew a zipper; and the weight. 

Husqvarna 21

by EmilyKate, who collects and sews in Australia and posts about her adventures at her blog, here. (I love the bell-bottom jeans, blogged about here, that she made on this gorgeous Husqvarna!)

Love it, hate it, or something in between? I pretty much love everything about it, from the retro-tastic styling to the performance. It's such a happy shade of grasshopper-y green!

When did you buy this sewing machine? Two months ago.

When was it manufactured? The Class 21 series of Husqvarnas were made from 1955 until 1966, and there were 3 versions that I know of, called 21, 21a [ed note: see Jessicah's review of the 21a here] and 21e. In North America they are branded as 'Viking'. It was touted as having the world's first 100% jam-proof hook. So far that's proved true in my use of it. It also has a reduction gear that allows the machine to run slower but keep the full piercing power of the motor, which is great for sewing heavy or thick material like leather or denim.

Where did you buy it? I scored it at a local opshop -- that's a thrift-store to North Americans, or a cancer shop for Brits. I have another Husqvarna from the 1970s and it's a dream machine, so as soon as I saw the magic Husqvarna logo I knew I should snap up this one too. I didn't even try it out properly before I bought it, and the handwheel actually felt a little stiff when I tried to turn it but the ladies at the shop assured me it had been tested, and once I got it home, I opened it up along the arm and took a vacuum to the bobbin race area, and brushed out the feed-dogs -- there was what looked like decades-worth of compacted fabric-dust and oil in there. Once that was gone and a few drops of oil were administered, all the parts moved freely and the stitches were perfect.

How much did you pay for it? $50 Australian. There's NO WAY you would be able to purchase a new machine of this quality and with as many features at even quadruple the price. Plus they just don't make machines this cute anymore.

How many projects have you done on this machine? One so far- a pair of jeans. It handled the denim beautifully, and actually, even though it has the special reduction-gear for denim, I didn't need to use it -- it just went through like butter.

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. Aside from making the jeans, I've had a bit of a fiddle-around with the various bits and bobs it came with. It can do embroidery stitches by inserting cams into the back of the machine. As it didn't come with a manual, I've been experimenting and making notes about what combinations of settings make which patterns.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? There's nothing I hate, but in a perfect world the Fates would have put a stitch-length DIAL on my machine rather than the lever-type selector -- later versions of these models do actually have the dial. It does an absolutely beautiful buttonhole, but it's not automatic, so it could be a bit of a pain to try and get all your buttonholes the exact same size. But if you get an old Singer mechanical buttonholer attachment off ebay that problem is solved! The motor makes a nice little hum, and because it's an all-metal machine it's nice and solid-feeling, not clattery or shakey.

Vesta

and another review by Michelle Jensen, of naughty little epoch

Love it, hate it, or something in between? I was completely bowled over by this hand crank when I saw it. It was at the height of my sewing machine fascination and I had never seen a vibrating shuttle machine. (I love the long thin bobbin and the way the bobbin holder looks like a bullet. It's a joy to wind that bobbin!) I never really sewed a whole lot with this machine -- its stitching isn't perfect and it seems to have thread and fabric preferences -- but I always thought it would be great to have something to sew with in a power cut!

When did you buy this sewing machine? I bought it a couple of years ago, purely on a whim. I think I was seduced by those lions.
 
When was it manufactured? It was made by a German manufacturer called Dietrich. I'm not sure when mine was made, really. Its badge is from the 1890s, but the decals are from around 1903 (according to needlebar.com).

Where did you buy it? I bought it in a charity shop in my hometown. There is something about seeing something like that in a charity shop that makes it hard to pass up. It seems like such a stroke of luck.

How much did you pay for it? It is the most expensive machine I've bought at £25. The others didn't cost that much all together.

How many projects have you done on this machine? Only a couple, but I love the challenge of the hand crank option.

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I made one appliqué completely in its honor with Nahmaschine written in ribbon across the top. Mostly I've just played around with it.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? I think this machine has real character. It isn't something that I would use all the time -- just when the mood takes me. There is nothing to hate; it has great character and I'm sure that like most sewing machines it just requires the right touch.

Singer 185K

by Michelle Jensen, who blogs at naughty little epoch about sewing, appliqué, and her amazing op-shop finds

Love it, hate it, or something in between? I loved this machine for quite a while, and still do have a soft spot for it, but it has been eclipsed -- first by my Elna Grasshopper and more recently by my Husqvarna Automatic (both of which you can see amazing examples of on this blog!). It has always sewn pretty well. The foot pedal broke at one point, so that’s been fixed. I find the way it sews to be a bit heavy compared with the whizzy little Elna, and it is really quite loud. Despite that, the stitching is dependable.

When did you buy this sewing machine? I bought this machine about three years ago. I had been living abroad for about four years and coming back to a sewing machine-less existence was a hard thing to take.

When was it manufactured? 1959-60

Where did you buy it? I bought it at a village fete in a tiny little place called Staplefield, in the village hall -- a place I’ve known since childhood (Saturday night discos, etc.).

How much did you pay for it? £2! I tried to give them more because it seemed like such a steal, and the money was going to the church fund or something, but they wouldn’t hear of it.

How many projects have you done on this machine? I’d say I got at least 15 finished items done on it before I got the Elna. But that doesn’t include the ‘experimenting.’

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I’ve made appliqué wall hangings, bags, accessories, the better part of a quilt, and some creatures. I used it again recently because I bought a button hole attachment and a zigzag attachment, but then I found the Husqvarna. So the poor Singer is sidelined once again.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? I hate that it isn’t getting any use. I’m on the verge of finding a good home for it, but it is hard -- I let myself get attached. I like how sturdy it is and the design of it. It came with all the attachments and the manuals. Vintage sewing machines seem to have such nice manuals. I also love that vintage sewing machines have a history all of their own.