My new blackside featherweight
Picked up my new blackside featherweight this weekend and took a class on how to care for her. I’ve decided to name her Dora after my grandmother who was a seamstress.
I had quite an adventure finding one to buy. Twice I had people try to rip me off, once by selling me a machine they didn’t have (they took pictures from someone’s eBay listing and used them on Etsy) and an eBay seller claiming they had a blackside but they conveniently posted pictures that just barely didn’t show the faceplate. The serial number fell in the wrong year which was a dead give away.
we ended up buying one from a very reputable dealer only about 3 !/2 hours from us, At quilters connection in Olympia Wa. He even threw in the maintenance class which was yesterday. It was a ton of fun to take apart our new machine, learn how to oil and maintain her, and a little about how they work.
she runs like a dream now!
im working on trying to soak off that old tape glue now, it’s really on there! Not sure what else is safe to use besides sewing machine oil and kerosine. She’s about a 7 in condition with some chips on the hand wheel and worn off decals, pin scratches etc. I think she’s a candidate to have repainted but hubby thinks we she leave her as is. He didn’t even want me to try to get the tape residue off. He likes the feeling of the history she holds. She was commissioned in 1941. Quite a bit of history there.