The Featherweight and I

I bought a Singer Featherweight sewing machine on e-Bay a few years ago, got it out and played with it, and then have never used it. It stitched just fine, but the case and the machine itself smelled a little musty. Then I kind of forgot about it until I went to a recent Cyberbee Sew-in, and noticed several quilters stitching away on their Featherweights. I got mine out, and took it to Archie Johnson's Sewing Machine Repair in Cary one day when I had to go there for my teaching application. Then, I decided to replace the case with a non-stinky, modern soft luggage version. While I was looking for that, I found this neat book about Featherweights and purchased it and some bobbins.

Here is the red case, with room for foot pedal, cord, and extra stuff.

The book has a spiral binding so it can lay flat, and only has text on one side of the page to allow for note-taking. It is written in very non-technical terms, often quite amusing. Now when is the last time you read an amusing technical manual? He describes how to maintain, repair, and restore the Featherweight, including the stinky case. So maybe I will keep mine and try to deodorize it. It seems I must apply 150 degree heat for 12 hours to knock out the mold that is probably from the horsehair glue used to glue the lining to the box! Now that's old mold.

It also describes how to reburish the exterior of the machine to make it gleam and shine like new. Mine needs some of that TLC. It is quite amazing the amount of detail and metalwork used purely for ornamentation on these machines. One reason I selected mine was for the fancy metal faceplate. Looks like Art Deco to me!

I purchased all my new Featherweight stuff from an Internet vendor, 221parts.com in Florida. The service was very quick. Maybe I will be toting it proudly in its soft-sided case to my next quilting workshop!