It’s time for another sewing machine showcase, the series where I film beautiful vintage machines and play it back in slow motion for all the vintage lovers to enjoy! If you missed any of the videos in the series you can check out the entire playlist HERE.
This week’s showcase is all about the Singer Featherweight. I had never really heard about Featherweight sewing machines until my mom started talking about them back in 2009 or 2010. Mom decided she wanted one and began to look for them at local thrift stores, garage sales, and vintage shops. In 2011 she found two at a local vintage resale store. One was in questionable condition and would need some work, but the other was in great working order so mom bought it.
The Featherweight mom purchased is the classic Singer black and was made in 1949. There’s a really awesome website where you can date any Singer Sewing Machine that you own just by the serial # located on the machine. There will be more info on that below, but first here is the Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine Showcase!
The Singer Featherweight 221 sewing machine was introduced at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. They were manufactured between 1933 and 1964 in the United States, Canada, and the UK. The machines weighted in at about 11 pounds, making them the ‘portable’ sewing machine option of the time (thanks to its mostly aluminum parts)! The machine’s most notable feature is the fold up platform making it possible for the machine to fit in a smaller, almost cubical, carrying case. The Featherweight sews only straight stitches, but sews them really well, making the machines very popular among modern quilters.
There’s a site you can check out if you want to learn more about the Singer Featherweight, it’s where most of my historical info came from. Click to read more over on Planet Patchwork.
So back to the website I mentioned earlier. My mom came across a website called My Singer Stories when she was trying to date some of her vintage sewing machines. You can read other peoples singer stories and even share your own on the site. But the best part of the site is down on the right hand side. If you scroll about half way down the page you will see a box where you can enter your Singer’s serial number, your name, email address, and zip code. The website uses that information to provide you with a certificate acknowledging you as the owner and the year the serial number was issued to the machine. My mom has gone on the site and created these certificates for several of the Singer machines that we own. The service is FREE and it’s a nice memento to keep along with your most treasured vintage machines!
Well, that is about all I have to share for today. I hope you enjoyed looking at this beautiful sewing machine. Until next time, happy sewing!
-Whitney-