Once I was telling my mother that I wanted a featherweight and she was surprised because it was so small. She said that was the machine people bought that didn't have any room for a full sized machine or a person that didn't really sew but wanted a machine to do mending and nothing else. My grandmother had one (she hated to sew) and she gave it to my aunt when she could no longer thread the needle. My aunt said she has never gotten the machine out of the case, so not sure what it is. I have 2 now - both were bought from strangers.