ThayerRags

Hi Sharon,

Yes, you’re right. The Singer 115 threads from left to right.

And for trivia sake, not all 15s thread the same direction. Singer changed directions sometime between the models 15-80 and 15-88.

I had a very nice lady tell me that she was so glad that she had a “right-handed” machine, because someone else in her circle had a left-handed machine and she hated it. It took me the longest time to figure out what she meant. I finally realized that she has a 15-91, and her friend has a 15-80. The difference in the needle thread path is what she was referring to. On her “right-handed machine”, she had to push the thread through the needle with her right hand, and catch it with her left hand, thus it was “right-handed”. But on her friend’s machine, she had to do it the other way, from left to right, and she didn’t like threading it with her left hand.

BTW - She referred to both machines as “Dress Makers”. The reason for that was both she and her friend were of the age when they in fact made dresses, many of them, for themselves and others in the area. So, if a nice little lady tells you that she has a “right-handed dress maker”, it could just be a Singer 15-91.

Back to the subject, the main difference about the Singer 115 is that it is a rotary machine instead of an Oscillating Shuttle machine. Rotary means that the hook goes completely around in a continuous circle, while the OS machine hook goes around about half way and then reverses back to the starting point. The rotaries are believed to have less vibration and run smoother.

CD in Oklahoma

Edited to add: I believe that the Singer 201-2 has been referred to as "The Dress Maker", possibly in Singer Advertising....