Well, you are right about the 301 and the 301A being mistakenly called a "Slant-O-Magic". They were made by Singer and simply the first slant needle machines made by Singer. The 301A was made in Anderson, SC., thus the A. Both are workhorses and have wonderful stitches. They are not sisters to the Featherweight machines, although some mistakenly refer to them as that. I have a 301, 301A, 401 and 501. All great machines. I've gathered this info from research, but please correct me if I'm mistaken.