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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