Singer 221-K Featherweight: Esther

This is my first Featherweight.  It's a 221-K, says made in Great Brittain. My research shows that it was made in Clydebank, Scotland, at the Kilbowie Plant. Hence, the -K on the model number.  US made models are 221.  The motor is made in Canada.  According to the Singer Co. site, it was born in 1960. Searching for more detailed information resulted in a couple of sites showing that based on the serial number, it was made either in October 19 or November 3 of 1960, and only 2,500 of them were made during this period. Black Featherweights were made to 1961, so this was one of the last black ones made.

If it was indeed made on November 3, it is my parents wedding anniversary. I don't know which year it was but it's around 1960 that they got married. (My Singer 15-91 was born on the same year my mother was born. Interesting relationships I'm having with sewing machines....)

It came with the manual, foot pedal, and a few feet, a couple of bobbins, little screw drivers, and the key to the case.

It has a simple faceplate, unlike my Singer 15-91 which has a scroll faceplate.

Ever since I sew saw one at a garage sale, and I was amazed at how cute and small the machine was, I've wanted one.

It showed up one day when I wasn't even specifically looking for one.


I was learning back then that there was this interesting destiny dance when it came to looking for vintage sewing machines. "The right machine will show up at the right time."  It is really true. So I decided to wait, rather than actively looking for one. It sure came to me!

At this pristine condition, and the price was amazingly reasonable, I knew she was for me!












 Ooooo, and did I mention it has a Red-S badge? 

I read that Red-S badges are rare, though I don't know how rare. It sure is pretty.  I don't think this machine was used much.  All these photos were taken as I took it out of the case. I hadn't cleaned, polished, or anything. No obvious harsh scratches. Decals are perfect.  Shiny, shiny. All in all, in perfect shape!

 Here is the bottom.  When I removed the drip pan to see inside, again, I was surprised how clean it was. I wasn't sure if this sewing machine was ever used until I opened up the bottom, there it did have some old oil residue. (Well, maybe it was oiled but never used?! Maybe used just once?!)






It was owned by Ms. or Mrs. or Mr. Lennon.  John?!

The case was a bit scratched. So, when I first went to see the machine and saw the case, I wasn't all that excited. But you know, you can't judge a machine by its case! It has done a terrific job protecting the baby inside.

 The liner inside is in tact.

 A few more photos.  Just because.

I'm calling her Esther.  I made Esther an extension table cover so that the screw knob on the faceplate wouldn't scratch the table.  Great idea. I got that idea from Michelle of Life With Lou via Tammy's Craft Emporium.  (I've already shown this photo in my previous post, but, hey, you don't mind, do you?!)

By the way, it's interesting that I do want to name all my sewing machines, but I don't usually come up with a name until I start writing about her. My Featherweight was nameless until today.

I think just about everyone who collects vintage sewing machines eventually ends up with at least one Singer Featherweight.  I now have one, so I'm not looking for any more Featherweight. (well, unless it's the mint green one.... maybe..... definitely.... for sure) However, there is one courting with me right now. I shall see if it ends up with me.

If you are looking for Featherweight manuals and attachment list, here is a link to the ISMAC site with attachment list and free manual download. Download manuals are also free at the Singer's site. You can also buy printed booklet manuals there. By the way, not only you can date your machines at Singer's site with the serial number, if you go to My Singer Story, scroll down to the bottom and put in your pre-1970 Singer sewing machine serial number, you'll instantaneously receive a little 'birth certificate' of your sewing machine that you can print.  It's kind of cute. 

For those who have a Featherweight or two (or three), do you actually use your Featherweight, or does it sit in the case?  When and for what do you use it? Do you have and use a zigzagger with your Featherweight? (I want a zigzagger!)

ZeroLandfill Event - Fabric Bonanza!

I went to this event called ZeroLandfill a few Sundays ago. I'm telling you, it's worth finding out if they have a local chapter in your area!  It's an event where local architectural firms and design firms donate their unwanted samples and materials of all sorts (otherwise destined to a dump) and you can go "shop" free.  That's right.  They want you to take them all away, as many as you want.  I just got to know about it about a month ago. What a fantastic idea!! What was I after? FABRICS (what else?!)

It opened at 11am, but I had a prior commitment and I wasn't able to get there until several hours later. When I got their with my friend, Jillian, people at the front desk said; "Come earlier next time -- it's mostly gone now" What?!

Well, I think everything is relative. There were still PLENTY of stuff there, especially if you were interested in fabrics and textile materials.  That's all I was interested in. I wasn't looking for paints, building materials, tiles, or anything else.

OMG!  All the fabric samples and leftovers!! Since I love making bags, these upholstery fabrics are perfect.  There were fairly large size pieces, too. Large enough to be the base of a canvas market bag. Lots and lots of small sample size fabrics, just perfect for embellishments of bags, purses, garments, and what else?!

I can't imagine what they had when they just opened the door that morning. Anyway, we overshopped, stuffed my car, and happily went home with lots of ideas and inspirations.

I got home, and immediately unpacked and organized the pieces I picked up!

Look at all these 'books' of fabric swatches.

I took SO many. I have enough materials to make hundreds of bags, or whatever little things I want to make~! Many, many beautiful pieces. Colors, materials - oh, so pretty.

Some are larger than 10 x 10, some smaller.  These are all samples that interior designers and furniture makers show to their clients for custom furniture and home deco.

I picked up --- maybe 10 big fat 'books' of fabric swatches.

Many high quality fabrics. Wool, chenille, brocade, canvas, cotton, nylon, and, and, and....  Not pictured here, but there are also larger, thicker materials (probably intended for curtains) that are perfect for bags. These photos I'm showing here are all, well, mostly for embellishments.

My head was spinning with inspirations. Oh, I so wish I had all day and everyday to play with all this. I have already made a pretty market bag with red accent fabric pieces for a friend's birthday gift. What else can I make besides bags????

I made a foot pedal bag for Jeri Bee, my New Home sewing machine. Here are the two pieces I chose. They are each about 10" x 10".

I just noticed that I've been attracted to the color green lately.  Hmm, interesting.

Here is a pouch to hold Jeri Bee's foot pedal and her tin of goodies as there was no place inside the case to safely keep them without risking scratching Jeri Bee's beautiful exterior.

And here is how the pouch sits just perfectly and snugly.

And when I put the case cover/lid on, I can't help noticing this cute little detail. The handle is made of plastic trying to look like leather.

New Home (Janome) Sewing Machine

My dear friend, Jeri Beri, was at my house for our monthly Art Journal group meeting. "I've got something for you," she said as soon as she came in the door.  She solicited a couple of others to help her unload this "something" from her car. What could it be?? I hope it's not too big.

OMG! this beautiful, but a bit browning green box was carried in.

 This did weigh a zillion ton. The whole box is solid wood with wall paper-ish thing covering, and the only "fake" thing was the handle which was plastic trying to look like leather.

Unveiling her.  Ta-da~!

By looking at the box, I'd expected to see a well-used, an old nondescript New Home sewing machine, and I was going to have to sort of fake my excitement.  BUUUUUUUT.  Look at her! It took my breath away.  I screamed with joy. Then, I actually tried to stay cool, as I was the only one in the group who had this condition called vintage sewing machine fanatic syndrome. She even came complete with a red spool of thread, matching her accent color!

Impeccably clean, inside out. I opened her top, side, and the bottom to confirm that she's never been used. It sat in someone's closet for years with the case lid tightly shut. I did not have to clean her at all.  She was thirsty for sure.

I was going to look her up to see who made it. But no need. It was on her, in fact all over her. I haven't seen many badged Japanese machines with the actual manufacturer's name so clearly written on it. She is a Janome machine! Even the manual - the inside was all Janome with the warranty card addressed to Janome. This New Home machine was openly Janome.

She really was new. This pretty two-tone green tin was a true treasure chest.  Love that the handle of the screw drivers is wood.  And the color matching seam ripper.  I'd drool over just for the tin! How anyone could buy this pretty machine and never used it is a mystery to me.

I only test sewed her for a little bit. Have not sewed any project on her yet. When I tested her, she sewed beautifully except when I fed thick fabric, (like 6 layers of thick woven or 3 layers of denim) she hesitated and I had to help her manually with the hand wheel. I experienced the same with other Japanese machines of this era. Is that one of the characteristics of these, or am I just not using the right foot or something?  Maybe I'll sew on her the green dress I just cut the fabric for. That seems appropriate. Green on green.

Beautiful straight and zig-zag stitches. Feed dogs can drop, too. What more would you need? Well, maybe a free-arm, but not absolutely necessary.

I think I will now call her Jeri Bee.

Bernina Sport 801 - Purchase, Find, or Rescue? Emotional up and down.

There are three ways sewing machines are acquired (according to me).  Purchase, Find, and Rescue. If you are into vintage sewing machines, you know what I'm talking about.  This one was a FIND and a RESCUE all in one. 

I've always been very curious about old Bernina machines, like Record 830 or even 730.  Their going market price kept me from getting wanting  pursuing one. It was just not too long ago that I learned there were also Minimatics and Sports. Now, those made sense to me both in the going price (a bit lower), and the size (I can't house any more full-size machine in my house, but portable smaller-ish machines??........ sure)

Stumbled upon this CUTIE!!!! (Note: this is her "Before" photo. No spa treatment has been given yet.)

You know, I wasn't even looking for one.  Of all places, she was on the shelf with a mountain of microwaves, at the Goodwill Outlet store.  The final place these unsold items are given one last chance before they hit the dump.  I immediately grabbed her, plugged her in to confirm that the motor was alive and the needle bar moved.  That's good enough for me. It had the power cord/foot pedal, and the extension table.  No bobbin case, thread spool pins/stand were missing, and no other accessories. (but that's ok. My Bernina 1230's feet and bobbin case probably fit.)

This was the first time I saw a Bernina Sport in person, and I was immediately attracted to its compact design, portability with the handle, and the red accent color. Just super cute. Perfect. I've been thinking that I could use a real good,  reliable take-along machine that had at least straight and zig-zag stitches.

There was no price on it. I asked the store clerk, and she said, "TWO NINETY NINE". Right. I didn't think she was asking for two hundred ninety-nine dollars, as you might see on ebay as a real bargain.  But just in case, I double check. "Two DOLLARS and ninety-nine CENTS?"  She nods.

It was cosmetically in a bit rough shape. Had ding here and there (probably got bruised getting thrown in from one place to another), the hand wheel had what looks like some teeth marks or maybe it got badly scraped against something hard while being moved.

But everything moved, so of course I took it home. Upon getting home, I noticed that the buttonholer knob was missing. Well, it's ok. I can try to find a replacement, or I don't need it to do buttonholes.  I'll use other machines for that.

Love at first sight. I was already dreaming about taking her on a trip, maybe a week in Hawaii, or a weekend getaway to Orcas Island, and get really inspired to sew something on vacation. <3

Anyway, I couldn't wait. As soon as I got home, I borrowed the bobbin case and the bobbin from my other Bernina (she's a 1230), and test sewed.  She sewed fine! I tested straight and zigzag for just a bit.  She was a dusty little thing. I cleaned her inside and out.

Ooo, look at those metal cams.  And the fuzz to be cleaned.

Her hand wheel was a little sticky. So, I opened her up and jiggled the hand wheel a bit more.

 OMG! What are those???  Layers and layers of threads! How did this ever happen, and how did the sewer not notice that this happened?  It had multiple colors of threads, so it didn't just happen one time. Then again, I remembered reading somewhere that this is a common sight on older sewing machines needing "repair". 

 
She was finally all cleaned up and oiled. The moment I've been waiting for! I want to test all her stitches!

Ooops, this above photo was still one of the "before" pictures.  (I really cleaned her up. Really.)

Her tension was perfect, I didn't have to adjust a thing for the straight stitch.  Beautiful, and I love the sound of the motor. It hums and purrs very sweetly.

Now let's test other stitches!  --- This is when the tragedy happened.  With this type of strong, reliable, metal, and Bernina sewing machine, I wasn't expecting much trouble. BUUUUUUUUUT!  I encountered a few issues. (dang. super sad)

1) While the straight stitch is beautiful, cannot zig-zag with stitch width wider than 2. The needle hits something in the bobbin case/shuttle area.

2) All other stitches, #3 ~ #7, it sews for the first 2 minutes or so, then WHAM! The same thing happens as above. The needle hits bobbin case/shuttle.

3) Needle position -- is supposed to be set to the middle, but if I do that, for zig-zag, the needle will hit the needle plate on the right.  I had to set the needle to the far left position to get it to sew zig-zag up to the width 2.

4) Furthermore, the extension table that was with this machine actually didn't fit. A little research resulted that the table actually is for 801, not for Sport 801. How in the world this machine ended up with a wrong table??

Well, what do I do now.  I can clean, oil, and make minor adjustments, replace broken parts if it's visible, easy to get to and easy to disassemble/assemble.  But that's all.  I'm not a sewing machine mechanic. I can't repair a machine : (

Do I:

a) Take it to my neighborhood Bernina shop, and have them fix it, no matter how much it costs, now that I've fallen in love with it?  Um, that sounds just too crazy.  Can't do 'love is blind'.

b) No, silly. The repair will cost at least $200. (My wild guess. For just plain maintenance servicing, they charge $165 per machine) If I really, really want, look for a good working condition one which I can probably get for around $300?  Sell the foot control (omg, these are going for over $100 on ebay. Really?!) and the table so I can fund my good machine PURCHASE. Give or keep this machine as parts machine.

b) Continue to fiddle with it, seek help in the various sewing machine related Yahoo groups I belong to, maybe I will figure out what to do to make it work right ?? After all, I only paid $3. Take it apart, there is not much to lose here.

c) Give up on the idea that $3 will give me a completely functional vintage Bernina. Work with what I've got. Enjoy the straight stitch, and narrow zig-zag stitches, be satisfied with these, expect nothing more from this one.

What should I do?!

Also, one funky thing.  The speed of this sewing machine.  As soon as I step on the foot control (even with the slower setting -- I found a switch on the foot controller for faster and slower), it takes off! No first gear, second gear, just turbo at once. I can't start slow. Is this a normal behavior of Bernina Sport 801? After all, the name, "Sport"..... Anyone out there, Bernina Sport 801 users?

What do I do now.  I want this machine to work.  Currently, she sits cute under my sewing desk, waiting for her treatment plans to be determined.  So sad : (  She sure is cute and strong.