Meet Maggie May, my new Singer 221 Featherweight
 

Maggie May arrived today, I was so excited!!! DH unwrapped her while I was jumping up and down with excitement:D She came with a bunch of feet, buttonholes, the original manual and what looks like an original Singer catalog.

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I am so excited to play with her after dinner. I am going to start with the basics and then read through the manual to see how to use everything.




Here is where I have a question. Does she look dirty to you??? To me it looks like she needs to have the "gunk" cleaned out and reoiled. Also, should I oil her before I use her??
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Thanks for all your help, I know I will have more questions along the way and I will be sure to come and ask.:)

Great looking machine, great name! Enjoy her!

For Christmas my sister and I cleaned Mom's FW: http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...t-t174239.html

Read the manual. It will answer all your questions about oiling. Yes, you should since you don't know when it was done last.

Pinkberrykay,
Congrats on the new machine! She looks mint. And all the goodies to boot.

Her name caught my breath for a minute; for 16+ years we had a border-collie mix we adopted from the shelter and we named her Maggie. When she passed on we named our boat after her.

Hope your machine gives you lots of great fun and memories like our MM did for us. Only different, of course ;-)

best,
d

Have fun with your new baby.

Sweet little sister to join the family - have fun with her!

Joann

Congrats on your new machine. You two will become great friends!

She sure is a pretty little thing...looks to be in great condition...and she has lots of accessories. Enjoy her!

Congrats, she sure is pretty.

You are going to love this little machine. I have 2 and love them both. They sew such a straight stitch. Enjoy.

Wow is she pretty. Where did you find her? Lots of goodies came with her. Enjoy her everyday.

I have a 201 and I have it in the shop to be cleaned and all the gunk removed. I highly recommend doing this because it probably hasn't had that done in a very long time if any. Yes it looks very dirty, sorry.

great little machine, injoy her.

Is that the gear at the top...I don't think its oil, but lube...I cleaned mine out and DH has some machine lube so I used that....a necessity I think...check the manual

YIKES:shock: lube/oil I didn't realize there was a difference. Please explain, thank you.

I checked the manual and it just mentions Singer Motor Oil, nothing about lube.

Congratulations on your FW!

congrats on your new baby, I see you live in the Soo in MI. Where did you look to find a Featherweight?

I found it through a Yahoo Group, there are definitely no Featherweights for sale up here.:p


QUOTE=Quilter Day-by-Day;4963322]congrats on your new baby, I see you live in the Soo in MI. Where did you look to find a Featherweight?[/QUOTE]

Congratulations on finding a Featherweight! Hope you have many happy hours together!

Pinkberrykay, Thank You for the step by step pictures of you and your sisters cleaning of Maggie May. I have wanted to do the same to my Pawnie (got her at a Pawn shop), but always a little unsure of myself. Your story in pictures gives me HOPE (you see, Pawnie is also a 1948). These little girls are small in size, but they have BIG hearts. Thank you again for sharing your wonderful story and pictures of Maggie May. Your DGD will now be a part of Maggie Mays story (just as you and your family are), too. Enjoy!!!

Yes, I would say to definitely clean that area out. Gunk is never good. Enjoy her. I love my Emma.

Maggie looks very nice! :)

she looks great!

Good luck with Maggie. Some one just gave me a (around 1960) Singer Feather Weight. It did need some attention, it didn't stitch well. So I took it to a trust worthy sewing machine shop. He adjusted it oiled & cleaned it. It works like a charm, she is a beautie. I never told the person that gave it to me how much it is worth. I gave her a nice rather new machine about 10 yrs. ago. So it all evens out. Enjoy your Maggie, I know I will enjoy mine. Rowena101

What a great gift! She is beautiful!!

She is a beauty! Enjoy!

Pinkberrykay,
I have a small business cleaning and maintaining Featherweights, been doing for about 10 years and have 4 featherweights of my own.
When I clean a Featherweight; I use the blue shop paper towels you find at Wal-Mart and a bamboo skewer to clean all the old grease off of the gears on the top and bottom of the machine. When its clean, I put new Singer Lube on the gears, just squeeze a bit on your finger and smear it on the gears, turning the hand wheel toward you so that you get the entire gear. You'll also need to put Singer Lube in the grease ports in the motor; NEVER any oil in the motor.
Put 1 drop of sewing machine oil in each of the oil holes and wherever else your manual shows you.
Sharon W. in Texas

a real beauty.