A Singer Featherweight 221 is a straight stitch sewing machine. It is about 1/2 the size of a normal machine and is very light weight. About 11lbs. The old Singer sewing machines were made of cast iron and were approximately 25 to 30 lbs in weight. The body of these machines are made out of aluminum and thus the "featherweight". They are a jewel to sew with and I love mine to do FMQ on smaller projects. There are several attachments that can be purchased to do a variety of things with these machines. I wouldn't trade mine for anything. The average cost on E-Bay is $225 to $275.
Originally Posted by jeandriggers
I was wondering, exactly what is a feather weight? Is it just a plain machine used for straight stitch and especially for piecing? I worked in a factory once where I sewed on labels in the neck of shirts. The machine was tiny but very fast. You could zip around those 1x2 inch labels very fast. I wish I had one of them. of course you had to sew in a lot of labels in a day to make minium wages.