February 4, 2012 by Les S. from South Carolina...

Hi, I saw the "crinkle" finish on the 221 for sale and read what you had written. I thought I'd let you know that my Dad was what’s known as a parachute rigger during WWII. He was inducted into the Army Air Corps in May 1943. After "boot camp" he was sent to Chanute Field in Illinois for riggers training. He said that the first thing they did was teach them how to repair the sewing machines that they were going to be using. He said the machines were Singers just like what you could go down town and buy with an "Army" paint job and a little bigger motor. I would guess the crinkle or textured pain would have seemed like a special Army paint job to a kid drafted out of high school a week before graduation that had only seen a few sewing machines in his life and all of them were foot powered machines like his mothers. He said that about half of the machines they used in England and France were the normal black color of the same type. He also said that after all of the training they received on repairing the machines he only had to make a few quick adjustments the whole time he was in the Army. He estimated that he repaired several thousand silk parachutes from small patches to replacing several sections and combining two or three 'chutes to make one usable one from ones that had been removed from the tops of trees.

I guess the Army's training was pretty good because my Mom kept several sewing machines at all times for doing different things as she sewed for herself, family and many friends. I can remember watching my Dad working on her machines many times and can never remember one of her machines going to a service man except one and it was a zigzag that she got in the early 60s that gave a ton of trouble until they changed just about all of the moving parts. That was done under warranty and she went on to thoroughly wear that machine out after many years.

I enjoyed looking at your site, Les Stewart Rock Hill, SC

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December 14, 2011 by John C. ...

I would like to share a story about my Grandma.

My Grandma insisted that both my brother and I knew how to cook, bake, knit and sew. Being able to knit has kept me supplied with warm socks. Being able to sew generated a bit of income that helped keep the bailiff away from the door. Enough of me, onto Grandma.

Every Christmas Grandma made PJs, shirts or jackets for the men in her family. If she was not able to get the gift finished, the cloth was wrapped and on Christmas Eve as we opened our parcels one never knew, until everything was unfolded, whether it was the real thing or material and a promise.

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August 9, 2011 by Sue B. from Pennsylvania ...

I purchased my first Featherweight a year ago from my favorite Quilt shop, Quilter's Corner in Finleyville, PA and have enjoyed it- a 1952 the year my husband was born.

My story, though, is about the one I purchased this past weekend. My neighbor and her husband were having a porch sale. I went over to see what they had. The husband said, “Sue, I have something for you to look at that you will appreciate.” He pulled out the black box with handle and at first I couldn't imagine what would be inside. He opened it and inside- a Featherweight in almost pristine condition with all attachments and the buttonholer in its box, complete with manuals, and grease tube in the box!  I will admit, my heart beat a little faster. It had belonged to her aunt. It was rarely used; that was obvious.

I explained they could get a very good price for it on Ebay. They quoted me $100. I said, “no, that's too little,” so they offered $150. I said “let me take it home and look at it. I'll be back.”

The foot pedal needed rewired- mushy wiring inside. I wrote a check for $200, but my conscience was still not satisfied. I showed it to my husband who knew what I had paid for my 1952. I said, “what do you think?”  He said, “how about $250.”  I said, “OK- that's what I'll write it for.”  I took the check over and gave it to her. Her jaw dropped. I explained she would get even more on Ebay if she sold it that way. She said, “no- I want you to have it.” Mine, all mine.

I used the plug from my other Featherweight and found that it runs even better than the first one. It is a 1938-1940 from the serial number...Wow, I am so blessed. The first one- I am saving for my future grandchildren. My daughter is expecting and who knows- the little guy may want to play in Grammy's sewing room some day. Little boys need to learn to sew, too.

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March 21, 2011 by Jennifer A. from Ohio ...

I had wanted a featherweight for too many years to count. I have been sewing all my life and love quilting and sewing for my two adorable little grand daughters, and mostly for my Etsy shop Britgaldesigns.etsy.com.  Imagine my surprise when I found my "new" baby on Craigslist. I gingerly contacted the seller to find a young man selling the machine for his mother - I was more than a little unsure if I should pursue the purchase; I had heard scary stories about Craigslist.

The young man told me that he was only a matter of blocks away from my home and so I took my husband along with me to the closest Starbucks to see the machine - and make the deal!  (It sounds like a spy thriller!)  We saw the owner, her son and grandson through the window - my husband was convinced that they were going to grab our money and run - no such thing!!  What an adorable family they were. The son had taken over the selling of the machine because the mom was nervous about using Craigslist. The machine was perfect - I felt giddy and so happy to meet my new baby. It must be the way a new mom feels when she's adopting a baby.

Imagine my happiness that the original bill of sale was still in the box. The first owner had paid $150.00 for the machine and taken the payments of $20 per month on time.  It lists her husband’s profession as a baker and hers as a homemaker. We paid for "baby" $300 - a great deal, I believe. I couldn't wait to get home to try her out. She has duplicate sets of feet, original manual, original case with key and several bobbins. I plugged her in and started to sew. Oh my, she stitches beautifully - a little slower than I am used to but the stitches are perfect!   I also own my first sewing machine (until I married, I used my moms treadle, in England).  I have a Bernina which is 32 years old and still sews well and a Janome 6500. which I work on most of the time for production of my items for my Etsy shop. So glad to find your site here!

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January 31, 2011 by Sayward D. from Mississippi ...

My 'new' sewing machine is a 1938 Singer model 99 hand crank that I have named Gertrude (Gertie for short). I remember when I saw her at the flea market, it was love at first sight. The people selling her had her nicely displayed, with all of her original parts, case and booklet. Best of all, she was small and portable, and she worked! They had a piece of fabric to test sew on, which I did, and she ran very, very smooth. I didn't have the cash they wanted for her (she was a fair price, but still expensive for my pocketbook), so I was a bit bummed. Turning away, I felt sick, almost literally. I have been to a great deal of sales, flea markets and the like and have never seen a hand crank machine for sale. Ever. I had run across plenty of treadle sewing machines, but they were always out of commission due to missing shuttles or other parts (which, before the internet were, at least in my case, impossible to find.). I also had the misfortune of having to leave behind a wonderful treadle my husband refurbished for me during a move because it was too bulky. This machine would solve two problems at once. I could have the non electric sewing machine (I just like the way they sew better than the electrics), and it was so small, space wouldn't be an issue! I told my husband I regretted not being able to get it, but he bought it for me as it was close to Christmas. So, even though I got her a month early, she was my Christmas present.

She's in very good condition; her decals still look great. I am a bit worried about them rubbing off with use, though. She sews so good, though, it's hard not to use her all the time. I'm new to sewing, but have gained a lot of practice sewing small things like hats and quilt squares, and have recently made two shirts for my husband. He loves them and loves the fact that that little machine makes such a great stitch. What I love about Gertie is you can get exacting with the sewing, right down to one stitch. I can make very pointy collars flawlessly with her, just by turning the crank really, really slow.

I also have a new Singer (from 2002, I think, but it was new in the box) that I am not impressed with. The body is plastic.  How is that going to last? I have never been able to get the tension right, and the threads always 'nest up' and it just has never worked right, despite reading the manual cover to cover and trying everything a million times. Seeing the two machines side by side is really wild; the quality and design are just so different. I can't believe Gertie is almost 80 years old; my mind is at a loss of all the history that she has survived through...I think of all the time periods she must have sewn in, avoiding war, fire, flood, etc. I feel lucky to have such a jewel, and hope to have her a long, long time. My daughter really loves her too so I plan to leave Gertie as an heirloom to her.

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January 11, 2011 by Bonnie ...

My Featherweight 221 was built in 1941 and given to my mom as a wedding  gift in 1943. My grandma ordered it way ahead because of WWII and  possible metal shortages. My parents had become sweethearts right after Pearl Harbor attack and my dad enlisted in the USAF. Because my dad was a  career officer in the AF, our Singer has traveled the globe including Germany (just after the war, where I was born in  1950) and Japan, 1958-1961. My mom gave it to me as a wedding gift in  1972. She taught me to sew on it and I will teach my granddaughter to  sew on it as well. I taught my boys (I had four of them) to sew with it, too! I love doing patchwork quilting with this machine and sewing clothes for the granddaughter's teddy bear. It is the best straight stitcher ever made! I even converted it to a treadle when we were homesteading in Alaska and did not have electricity. It sews through heavy denim like no other machine I've used. Wonderful memories.

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January 6, 2011 by Desiree from Scotland, UK ...

I have always loved sewing and fabrics, but I really like to use the resources I have and recycle just about everything - there is no scrap of material, button, ribbon, zip, bit of lace etc. that doesn't get stored away for some future purpose, and eventually finds a second or third use. I love to make gifts and useful but decorative things using what is already at hand, and over the years have made everything you can think of - quilts, clothes, costumes, pictures,dolls, bags,cushions - you name it !

Both my mother and maternal grandmother were excellent needlewomen and I learned to sew watching them - my Mum tells a funny story about how I made a dress from an old bright orange curtain when I was 4 (hole in top with elephant stitches up the sides, as I recall) and refused to take it off all day until it finally fell apart!

I currently have two machines that I use regularly, both of which have been playing up and are in need of a service. My daughter got a Netbook recently and asked me to make her a little padded cover case for it.  Just as the sewing got started my expensive machine decided to have a tension fit and all I got were horrid loops in the under stitching. After some fruitless fiddling about, I suddenly remembered that my paternal Granny had given me her mother-in-law's old Singer and it was up in the attic. I decided to bring it down and see if it still worked. I remembered my Granny giving it to me in my late teens - (sewing was not a priority in my life at that time!) and while I had made a few things with it, it had been put away and forgotten about for nearly thirty years. I recall being told that it had originally been driven by a handle, but that sometime later an electric motor was fitted. You can imagine my delight, when after checking the electrical plug, I put it in the socket and got the light to work ( the bulb was ancient!) Anyway after an oil and a good clean I'm delighted to say that it sews beautifully. The stitches and tension are perfect and it simply purrs or shall I say 'Sings' as its goes along - I was so impressed. What a testimony to Singer's craftmanship - its also beautiful to look at with its paper covered box and the machine itself has gold decals over black enamel on a lovely wooden base.

Well I was so pleased that I went on a mission to find out more. According to the machine serial number it was manufactured at Kilbowie, Glasgow in 1908, one of 250,000 Model No. 28's. My Great Grandmother was called Gertrude Alice Wall and she was born in Swindon in 1885. I have found her on the 1901 Census aged 16 - occupation an Apprentice Dressmaker!!!! I was so delighted and feel that I have a real affinity with this lady who died in 1963, not long after I was born. Great Granny Gertrude married Horace Alfred Veary in 1909, and I have rather a romantic, but unfounded notion that he may have bought her this machine as a wedding present - it certainly was a quality item when new and would not have been cheap. They moved to Buckinghamshire where my paternal grandfather was born in 1911 ( It is his wife, my Granny, that gave me the Singer). The family stayed in Buckinghamshire, and I was born there too.  Ironically, I married a Scot and came to live on the North East Coast of Scotland 27 years ago, so my beloved Singer has really just 'come home' to Scotland.

By all accounts Great Granny Gertrude was a fantastic seamstress and sewed outstanding clothing all her life - I have a formal picture of her with her husband and my Grandad, aged about 2 years old, so circa 1913 - all of them in the most immaculate formal Georgian attire - much of it presumably made by her as she was known for her tailoring skills. My Granny once told me that she made everything herself and was well known for her taste and exquisite needlework.



The greatest irony by far though was that I was using this 103 year old machine to make a Netbook cover for my daughter!! The Netbook was lying on the worktable next to the sewing machine as I was sizing up the cover - this old Singer that had seen two world wars, countless prime- ministers, and quite unimaginable and mind blowing social changes during its working life - still running perfectly - being used to make a cover for the most innovative up to date technology that the 21st Century has to offer. Just think of all the technological changes in our world between those two items! Of course I used the Netbook to do all the internet research, and find April1930's Shoppe and discover how to use all the attachments - Great Granny Gertrude would never have believed it!!!

     * Photo ~ Gertrude Alice Wall born 1885, with her husband and son - both named Horace William Veary, taken circa 1913 in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England.

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December 15, 2010 by Cher from Texas ...

As a girl my mother made all of my clothes. Sometimes it was great;  sometimes it was embarrassing!  But I  learned from her and then made clothes, costumes, and stuffed  animals for my kids.  As many of us do, needing a  little extra income when they were small, I sewed for the public and  found a great deal of satisfaction in it.  Now that they're  grown, and so far have refused to supply me with grandchildren, I've  decided to again, sew for others.

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November 8, 2010 by Mary from Washington ...

I just wanted to say that I grew up sewing on my mother's Singer 221 Featherweight sewing machine and I now have it and use it exclusively to sew on. She bought it brand new off the shelf in 1953, shortly before I was born. I found an informational book sometime ago and have been able to date it from the serial number as follows: September, 1951. I remember my mom making all sorts of things, and clothes, on this machine and then teaching me how to use it. I made clothes for my children and my grandchild on it as well. It has its little quirks, like every 7 or 8 stitches it skips a stitch, but it has always done that since it was purchased.

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August 25th, 2010 by Betty from North Carolina ...

I can remember as a child sitting on the floor, in-between my mothers feet, as she sewed on her Singer treadle.  I would work the treadle with my hands - one on the top of the treadle and the other towards the bottom. She would say “faster” or “slow down” and I would do my part by supplying the power.  I can still remember her black lace up shoes with a little heel that she wore.

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 April 3rd, 2010 by Kathy from California ...

As I was trying to find information on my mother's singer machine 206 and my grandmother's singer 66-1, I found your wonderful website.

I learned to sew in the 1960's on my mom's machine and sewed many of my clothes. Through the years Mom got involved in quilt making and never threw out a scrap of material that might "come in handy". Last October she passed away at age 90. While going through her things, it became a bit of a joke with the family that she had filled many drawers and boxes with material. In the meantime, I joined a quilting class. One day I realized that I had become my mother! I now have drawers and boxes with material and projects. Some of these projects are quilts that she had been working on, and it is now up to me to finish these projects. I do so enjoy working on the same machine that I had learned to sew on so many years ago. It is like having her by my side while I sew.

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September 21st, 2009 by Pat A. from Georgia ...

Dear April,

I started sewing at the age of 11 through 4-H. My grandmother and mother both made many of my clothes and other things in our house. By the age of 15 when my mother went back to work, I was making all of my own clothes and some of my younger sister's. Graduation from high school came and I was going to go 90 miles away to become a nurse and my parents gave me a used Featherweight for a gift, actually they paid half of the $90.00 it cost and I made 9 more payments of $5.00 each. This was in 1953 and times were hard for our family.

When in my last year of nursing school they sent us from Miami, FL to Baltimore, MD for psychiatric training, my Featherweight went with me. In our yearbook there was a drawing of me hunkered down over my machine. Marriage came shortly after graduation, then babies. Two girls and again I made most of their clothes, curtains for the house and gifts for my family. When my third child, a boy, was born I traded in my Featherweight on a brand new Model 600. This sewing machine now belongs to my daughter and I found one of similar age in the late 70s for the other daughter. All metal machines!

I now own my mother's 1943 Singer and a used Featherweight that a friend of my sister was throwing away because it didn't have a cord. I also have a Kenmore from 1983 that does all the fancy work. It is all metal and weighs too much to take to quilt classes. The Featherweight is not my old one, but a pretty close replica and of about the same age. I am happy!

P.S. I had many outfits at the age of 10 made from feed sacks!

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September 16th, 2009 by Christian E. from France ...

My mother was a dressmaker and I remember her doing all the fancy stitches and even "simple" work like piping or hemming by hand.  She should have known how to use [Singer] attachments - even those supplied with machines - her work would have been simplified.

My wife and my daughter are discovering attachments and I guess they'll start to use them one of these days !!

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March 28th, 2009 by Victor A. from Peru ...

I must thank you for having such a nice and inspiring web site.  One of the stories I can share with you is how I solved a last minute problem with my 316g Singer. First of all I have to say I learned to sew with this sewing machine almost 25 years ago!  I make my living designing and constructing ballet costumes in Lima, Peru and I had promised to my niece a peasant outfit for her school performance, though I was really busy. Late at night I almost finished and I realized the corset (a basic piece) needed metal GROMMETS but... how was I going to order this service (in a specialty store) if I had to give the complete outfit at 8 a. m.? Then I remembered a very rare attachment I had bought a couple of years ago - a grommet-sewer!  I tried to remember how I was told it worked and proved it on a folded piece of drill cotton until the grommets turned OK on the final corset. I zig-zag-sewed 20 pretty grommets in the open front of the corset and lace it with satin cord. For this one and so many other stories I think I'm in love with my Singer sewing machine. The possibilities of bringing to life beautiful and practical works are infinite!
Wishing you all the best!

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February 18th, 2008 by Anna P. from Arizona ...

Just discovered your wonderful website and want to thank you for all the information I found there! Thanks to you and your serial number information, I could date my Mother's Singer Featherweight Portable which I now own and treasure. It was 'birthed' in 1935 (December 30, as closely as I can tell from the charts.)  I remember so well all the garments that were fashioned on that machine. In those post-depression years, it was often from feedsacks which were very strong and colorful fabric! It is still in great condition and I use it (carefully) with so many fond memories.

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October 25th, 2007 by ‘Hannah’s Grandmother’ ...

I am 56 years old and I have adopted my 11-year-old granddaughter, Hannah. What a joy it was to teach her to sew and now to quilt. I am sharing with her the love I have of sewing machines, especially the Featherweight. I recently bought my fourth Featherweight, not because I needed it but because I wanted one with a history. I found out about this wonderful machine at a Quilt Retreat when someone mentioned they had a friend that wanted to sell one. I immediately asked about it and found out the machine had been purchased by a grandmother, given to her daughter and I purchased it from her grown granddaughter. I couldn't wait to get home and open the black case and marvel at my new acquisition. The machine was in almost pristine condition and the case was loaded with attachments, bobbins and a buttonhole attachment. What a surprise!!! However, the most precious thing in the case was a piece of paper with a typed note on it documenting the history of this wonderful machine. I will be using this machine some just to keep it in working order but the real reason I bought it was to hand it down to Hannah with its history and make it part of our history. I want her to always remember the times we had sewing and enjoying each other's company and the love we share for one another. My prayer is that she too will hand it down to her children and grandchildren and teach them to sew just as I taught her.

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October 9th, 2007 by Patty H. from California ...

I've enjoyed your site from the first time I found it... I've certainly learned many things about these little wonders, or maybe it's BIG wonders, the Featherweight. By the way, I taught my three-year-old granddaughter to sew on mine, and at age five, she now has her own.
No toy machine for her.

I started out with her on my lap; I had come across a huge number of quilt squares at an estate sale and we've had a wonderful time with them. Her project was hearts for her mom, dad and grandmothers, we pinked hearts and she sewed them, with my help of course. She learned very quickly how to set the needle, drop the foot and she thought where to stop and turn. Stopping consisted of telling the machine to stop and it did. Magic and imagination are wonderful things, not only in children but in all of us.

She thinks her Featherweight is one of the most special things she has ever seen and is so proud of herself.

She will be five this month and can sit at a small table and control it herself now. I haven't ventured into showing her how to thread it, maybe in a few months. I know this is something she'll remember forever and hope that the fascination this little machine has instilled will help teach her the wonder of so many things I grew up with and learn to value the past instead of throwing it away.

.... I hope one of the things [my story] helps people understand is that the Featherweight is such a timeless, tough little machine that they don't have to worry about a child learning to sew on one. In fact, I have a couple of toy machines I acquired for her and the Featherweight is much easier for her to use and for me to teach her on.

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September 25th, 2007 by Peter V. from Canada ...

This is not my story, but I will retell it... “My granddaughter came to spend a few weeks with me, and I decided to teach her to sew.  After I had gone through a lengthy explanation of how to thread the machine, she stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and said in disbelief, ‘You mean you can do all that, but you can't operate my Game Boy?’”

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April 24th, 2007 by Linda P. from Washington ...

My mother wasn't a creative seamstress, but she was a perfectionist, sewed for five daughters and herself, and taught me always to do things right.  She made me a velvet formal during my college years, for which she re-did the zipper 5 times. Maybe a little over the edge.  But I developed a desire to always work through a project to make it look right.  I don't always worry about perfectionism in my sewing, because the evidence of little mistakes shows it was made by a person who cared rather than in a factory by machines.

I made my first item of clothing when I was a high school sophomore, but really got to work when my babies came. We had no money for clothes for them, nor for fabric, so my sisters and mom gave me scraps from our leftover 70's clothing to make their early toddler items. Next I moved up to remnants, and found a challenge in making my pattern fit on the remnant I wanted. Sometimes I pieced, or turned the pattern a little to fit. As they got older and I found myself collecting more fabric, and their lives keeping us all busier, they'd sometimes say, "Do you PROMISE you will get it done?" I promised, and still sometimes fell short.

Now I try to buy only if I plan to sew immediately. I do much better than 20 years ago, but still have favorites not yet cut and sewn. Now it's time to make grandchildren outfits, and I'm excited. One daughter recently asked for bows "like you made for us." Another asked me for help with curtains and accessories in the babies' rooms. Pillows, placemats, or whatever they want! I'm just thrilled they ask. The biggest item is burp cloths! Our family has had abundant spitters, and one daughter has at least 30 burp cloths. It's fun!

Some people find no joy in sewing. I've acceptted it. Ha! But I found it first as a way to survive, then as a way to be creative, and later as my outlet for approval and acceptance outside the home. One of my best memories is my 8-year-old dancing through the house in her just-finished Easter dress, saying, "I feel like a princess." Plenty of money to buy any dress in any store can't give a mom more thrill than that.

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April 20th, 2007 by Tammy A. from Idaho ...

It seems there has always been someone sewing, talking about sewing or stating, "Oh, I can make that!" in my family.

My Great-Grandmother taught me how to sew when I was only nine. I believe it was on my Grandmothers Singer. Only, it was not a Featherweight, my Gram didn't like those "old things"! She had a brand spanking new Singer Electric with cams to do all the stitches that a separate attachment would do.

My Great-Grandmother was a meticulous seamstress. One of whom I still strive to emulate. Her garments made for my sister and I are still being worn by my daughter today and she is now the age of nine!

My first project was a summer shirt for myself. Then, a pants outfit with topstitching on it (of which at that time I could not stand). Then, finally allowed to be on my own, I cut out, sewed together and embellished a Barbie Doll dress. No pattern, no instructions.

It wasn't pretty when it was done, nor did it look anything like what my mind held as the inspiration, but it was mine, all mine and without help. What an encouragement this was!

My Grandmother (the daughter of the woman who taught me) is also still sewing today... only she has discovered the joys a Singer Featherweight 221 can bring. She has sewn pajamas for my children, bed skirts, curtains, pillow covers and mended, mended, mended.  All just in the past two years.  Back in the day, she made my mother a weeks worth of dresses every year for school, dance costumes, all her sons clothes. She has made me formal gown after formal gown, nightgowns, shorts, blouses, dresses and even slips... most of which we still have because of the love in them.

My Mother, an avid and talented quilter and seamstress also has a Featherweight 221, and many others she uses frequently.... she too loves when the children visit so that she can pass on the love of fabric, textiles and sewing!

I, too, have come into an early inheritance from the above Grandmother who let me have the 2nd 221 she was holding onto (so that my sister and I both would have one upon her death!) Praise the Lord, she let me have it before she entered the pearly gates so we can enjoy each others endeavors!

It seems with each finished project my desire to sew more grows and grows... even to the point of profitability, but the greatest pleasure comes from sewing for my family!

Now, my own daughter is learning to sew on the mighty Singer 221 and we admire greatly and will prayerfully someday own a 222!

The joy that has come from learning a great skill that has passed on down through the generations, and is continuing to get passed (even to my two boys the oldest of which has a crank Singer Sewhandy 40k) is a great joy... one I simply do not take for granted. In fact, I praise God nearly every time I sew!

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March 29th, 2007 by Julia H. from Oklahoma ...

Many years ago (don’t ask), Mom was sewing a lovely dress  for me called a “shift”.  It was the coolest outfit - no shape whatsoever and it would hang on my adolescent body like a dish towel, but it was trendy and “today”!  During the construction, with me hanging over her shoulder with each stitch, Mom ran her finger under the machine needle and the needle went all the way through!  We gently unscrewed the needle clamp and off to the Doctor we went, needled finger raised in salute while Mom drove.

We waited and waited to see the Doctor.  At last we were ushered into the exam room.  The Doctor entered and left telling the nurse to remove the needle and apply an antiseptic.  The nurse was too queasy to pull the needle from her finger and Mom was getting a little angry.  She turned to me and said ”Pull this needle out!”  Dutifully, I did, and we went home.  No Doctor’s bill ever arrived.

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As a child, Mom saw her first Singer Featherweight in 1938.  She was certain it was a child’s “REAL electric sewing machine” because of the size.  It could not have been meant for anyone other than a child and guess what?!  She was a child.  So, a Singer Featherweight 221 had to be hers!  She begged and pestered her Mom for one and each birthday and Christmas passed and no Singer Featherweight 221.  Mom continued to sew on her Mom’s Singer Treadle.  She grew up and forgot about the fabulous “REAL electric sewing machine” built for a child until a few years ago when I found one for her and gave it to her.  It was then that Mom told me her story.  And when was the little treasure manufactured?  Well, 1938, of course.
 

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March 28th, 2007 by Russ W. from England ...

When I was small I used to help the old lady next door untangle her Featherweight (222) and then fill the spool for her and thread the needle. I loved tinkering with that machine and never forgot it.   So now, about 35 years later, I have one of my own!

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