so I have to tell ya'll a story- I was at an estate sale yesterday looking at an old kenmore in a cabinet. An older gentleman walked up to me and asked if I was getting it, and I told him he could certainly have it if he wanted. He laughed and told me that he still had the same sewing machine he used during the war, and that if I wanted something good I needed an 'old black singer'.
Turns out he was in the navy in WWII, and had two featherweights he always took out to sea. One he kept set up for patches, and the other was used by everyone who needed general darning or repairs. He said folks laughed at first when he walked up the gangplank with a little black case, but changed their tunes when they needed to repair something. He still has them. I told him to let me know if he ever stopped needing them, and he told me that he would 'always' need them.
oh, and I ended up with a kenmore 158.something in a pretty cherry cabinet for $5.