I just saw an ad for a 201 with a zig zag attachment. Shure nuff, picture showed a green singer box with "Zig Zag" on the outside. Picture wasn't clear enough to read which model # it was for...

I knew the 201-2 would go forward and reverse... didn't realize it could zag a zig...

For real? If so, I imagine just the attachment alone is worth something..

My featherweight also came with a zig zag attachment. It wasn't a standard accessory with the machine and the original owner would have bought it as an extra or been offered it as an incentive to buy the machine. The zig zag attachment is black and reminds me a little of the older style buttonholers. The width of the zig zag can be adjusted much the same way as the buttonholer. I'm quite sure my zig zag attachment would fit your machine too as they are both low shank machines. Like the buttonholer, the zig zagger moved sideways not the machine and screwed onto the shank after the foot was removed.

I have a greist zigzagger for my 201 and I'm not very impressed. I also have the blind stitch and I'm not very impressed with that either. I don't know if maybe it's just me or these attachements are just not all that great. I have the buttonholer too, but haven't tried it yet. They're neat little gadgets...I just hope I can learn to use them!

I've only used the buttonhole attachment, but it fits any low shank Singer machine. I'm thinking the zigzagger would do the same. I love the buttonholer! When I got my own machine that supposedly had buttonholing built-in, I was so disappointed that the buttonholes were not as nice as those I had grown up with made using the buttonholer. It is rather loud though!

You're so right! I LOVE the old mechanical buttonhole makers, too - they make nicer buttonholes than any computerized machine's one-step buttonhole that I've ever seen. We'll just live with the extra noise, hm? Rackety-clackety!

But the zig-zag attachments and blind hem attachments, while just as noisy and cumbersome to operate as the buttonholer, are not any good at delivering results. :mrgreen: I've tried them on my 15, a treadled 27, and a 301 and none of them really did anything cool.

To get any kind of results, you have to use a very stiff, pressed fabric - like buckram or med-heavy interfacing or starch the bejeebers out of quilting cotton. And it just isn't pretty. The action is erratic and keeping the sewing along a straight line must be close to impossible! (Although if you try to sew a gentle curve or wave, what you will get is a mess!)

I still buy these attachments for my vintage machines just so that they will have a full collection of their "stuff" - part of their historical record. But to try to sew with some of them? No way.

The blind hem stitch and zig-zag attachments were made in low-shank (FW, 201, 27/28, 66, 99, 15, etc) and slant-shank (301, 404) versions.

The zig-zagger had several iterations, from a very plain device that looks a little like a gathering foot to a black enameled beetle looking thing that takes round cams to make different kinds of stitches. They're fun to play around with on a winter day and they don't cost much, so it's cheap entertainment. :) But the stitching doesn't look anything like the zig-zagging made by a machine that's made to zig-zag.

I have the beetle type zig zagger with cams and I just love it.
I have purchased the extra cams and I have gotten some lovely stitches from mine.
I am using it on my Singer 201.
I have experimented a little and found I must sew slowly and guide the fabric more closely to where I want the stitches to be.

I am thrilled with mine.
I just acquired the hemstitcher and blindstitch attachments.
Looking forward to experimenting with them and using them in my sewing.

Blessings,
Sandi