shannoncw12

I was given my grandmother's Singer Featherweight and I am trying to figure out how to use it.
I have watched a few videos on how to thread and I am pretty sure that it is threaded correctly but when I go to sew, the machine doesn't make any stitches.

The machine seems to be in pretty good condition so I am guessing that this problem is due to operator error... Does anyone have ideas as to how to solve this?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]511750[/ATTACH]

SteveH

welcome from the SF Bay area!

Do you have a copy of the manual? If not they are available online free
http://www.singerco.com/uploads/download/646_221.pdf

Most likely reasons are needle in wrong way, threading process missing a part, or lint buildup

miriam

It is likely that you have the needle in backwards - the flat side goes next to the needle bar - the thread goes in the groove side. This might help: http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...e-t250390.html
If that doesn't solve it we will keep working with you until you get it working - they usually don't go out of timing unless Egor was there.

Jackie Spencer

Beautiful little machine!!

novicequiltergrandma

Mine has done the same to me and it took me forever to figure it out. I had the needle threaded from left to right instead of right to left. I have another machine that threads the opposite direction and I get confused ( getting old). If it is threaded left to right it will not form stitches. Also, make sure your bobbin is inserted into the case correctly. The thread should be coming off the top of the bobbin towards you. When the thread is then pulled through the slot and under the tension spring, it will be as if folded back on itself. My FW will sew with the bobbin placed either way, but the stitches are much prettier if I do it right!

quiltingcandy

Maybe the previous user removed the bobbin case and throat plate to clean it and didn't make sure it was put back together properly. It took me a bit when I did mine to find the reason. Luckily the 221 threads like my 15-91, but cleaning it and replacing the bobbin case was a bit different.

Good luck!

purplefiend

The correct needle position for a featherweight: needle flat to the left and threads from right to left.

psychonurse

beautiful machine, what a super nice gift.

iadhikari

An easy way to remember: NFL (needle flat left).
Ila

KLO

Like the easy way to remember how to put the needle in. Now I just have to think "football" when threading a FW and that shouldn't be that hard in my house.