The cleaning of a 1948 featherweight
 

I know you mostly see posts of really pretty Singer Featherweight machines. I'm going to try to post about 20 pics of Mom's 1948 Singer FW - so please be patient and let me finish before we get real many comments. This machine has nicks and scratches on the nicks and scratches. If you think about a boy scout with a ton of merit badges on his shirt - this machine would be a life scout or what ever is the highest rank of scout if the nicks and scratches really were merit badges. I'll try to unfold this story as I go along. Perhaps my sister will chime in along the way.

For Christmas my sister and I cleaned up Mom's FW. We took pieces off Mom never knew would come off and cleaned out lint and gunk. We cleaned the body of it up and the FW sparkles as best one that has been used for everything ever could. We took pics. I gave Mom a print out of a manual in large print. She has always been visually impaired - she had eye surgery but she still has some trouble. She has read the manual a couple times. She held the manual and kind of stroked it for a while. I love it. She beamed from ear to ear when we ran the machine and adjusted the tension - she said it hasn't sounded that good since she bought it new in 1948. My sister and I had to choke back when she said she had NEVER taken the throat plate off to clean the machine. It looked like it too. Here is the before picture - it looks exactly like the after picture.
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We put new feet on the bottom of the machine and on the foot control. This machine is missing it's bobbin winder - it went AWOL some time. This machine was a beater - we did get the chrome to polish up just a bit.
Mom got this machine as a graduation from college gift from her parents in 1948. She sewed her wedding dress on it. The dress was made from an army surplus parachute. The dress had 200 covered buttons and loops to fasten down the back. The front was hand smocked. It had a very long train. Mom has always been very practical. One day she cut the dress up to line a coat she had knitted. Mom never had this FW in for servicing. All she ever did was drop one drop of oil in the oil holes once in a great while. The oil can she has is VERY old. Ok so let's take a closer look at this machine.
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I already replaced the plug - it was cracked and wires were needing to go - as you can see there is a lot of lint and dust - motor was kind of dirty too.

pretty sad shape - this FW just about gave her life for our family... nah - this one will go a few more years with a bit of care and a few new parts.
Lots of worn paint, missing the bobbin maker - not too dirty - just dust

we cleaned up the out side with some machine oil and cotton pads
You really can't see much difference between before and after on the outside of this machine.


The underside - Mom only ever squirted oil down the holes - she says she never cleaned anything or greased it - nope not ever.

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I hope this picture comes up

I think I might have put too many pictures on at one time. We cleaned up with some goop - we let it set awhile and then wiped it off. We found some dental brushes that look like pure torture to clean the gears. Mom used this machine to re-upholster the couch and several chairs. She made curtains. We all had comforter's know as quilts to us that she made. Mom remade coats. Made all of our clothing. All four of us kids (my brother too) learned to sew on this machine.

I have seen old machines with the gears totally black with dried up oil or rusted. It amazes me that this can be cleaned and the machine can run again for another generation.

just a close up. The grease is actually a protection - no rust on this machine - we did clean and re-grease.
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[ATTACH=CONFIG]299946[/ATTACH] The face plate lost a screw that holds it on so Mom used the screw from the button hole cover plate to hold it on. This area just needed a lite cleaning - mom just squirted oil in there once in a while.

so where did the pictures go?

I've been having all sorts of problems with the pictures - hang in there - only a bunch more to try to load on here. Mom said she never had the throat plate off the machine. She was a bit horrified when we pulled it off. My sister gladly dug out all the lint - I'm wondering how it would work if she never cleaned it - my guess is that she did clean it but has forgotten about it. Ok let's try for another picture. [ATTACH=CONFIG]299947[/ATTACH]