Charlie H

I've inherited my mom's Singer 401A. She taught me how to sew on it as a child, and I love this machine, a trusty workhorse and smooth. But so far I have not found the instruction manual or box of cams for the machine amongst all the boxes.

I'm working on a child's quilt and will applique lots of butterflies. I'd like to use the blanket stitch, but I don't know what settings to use on the machine. The diagram in the upper lid doesn't show the stitch, so I have two questions:
1. Does anybody know what settings I should use?
2. If the diagram doesn't show the desired stitch, does that mean I need to use a different cam than what's in the machine?

Thanks for your help.

Jordan

Maybe you could possibly google the type of sewing machine you have and find a manual on line to order. Also, the sewing machine manual may be among some of her fabrics if she has any or in a box of accessories.

bkay

The 401 has built in cams. You can use additional cams, but the built in ones are usually sufficient. The cams are usually cheap and easy to find. They are always available on Ebay, but can be more expensive than if you find them in thrift stores or on craigslist. It uses the black top hat cams. I think that using built in cams and the removable one can make unique stitches, but I've not tried it.

You can download the manual here. It has the switch position for the different stitches in it, plus they are on the inside of the flip up door where you install the removable cams.

bkay

Irishrose2

Here you go - check page 34. http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_mach...ng-machine.pdf

mjkgquilt

I have a Singer 401A and used the blanket stitch many years ago in a machine applique class. If you still need the stitch information, please PM and I'll look at my machine for you. It is packed away and I can unpack it if necessary.

Charlie H

Thank you all for your responses. I've been searching online, but so far have not had success. I hate to have you unpack your machine, mjkgquilt, so I'll keep searching for another day or two, but I may come back to you if I can't find the info elsewhere.

By the way, I'm new to message boards. What is PM?

JustAbitCrazy

PM means "Private Message". Welcome to the board! If you click on someone's user name, like where it shows up in blue on each person's post, you will get a box of options, and one of those options is "send a private message". Click on that and you will get another box to type in a message to that person, click "send" at the bottom. Only they will get your message. When they answer you, you will see it in the black "Notifications" at the top right of your page when you log in. You click there to retrieve and read their message back to you. You can also respond to them again from there.

bkay

I just checked my 401a and my black top hat disks. The combination of B and O makes a stitch kind of looks like a blanket stitch. I have 20 of the black top hat cams, which is most of them. Of the ones I have, the #8 looks most like a blanket stitch. It is identical to the B and O combination on the built in cam stack. You have to really shorten down the stitch length to get something like you want. Neither one is as perfect a blanket stitch as you will find on a new Bernina. It is my opinion that this is the best you are going to get. Of course, I've been wrong once or twice.

According to the manual, the 401a came with the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 disks. None of those is a blanket stitch.

Good luck with your endeavor.

Irishrose2

On page 34 of the manual I linked "O" looks like a blanket stitch, though I would lengthen slightly.

bkay

The "B" actually means the central needle position. The "O" is the actual stitch. So, we're saying the same thing.

Actually, I tried it on my 401a this morning. It's not hypothetical. The B and the O make the same stitch as the #8 cam. I actually sewed a piece of fabric. You have to bring the stitch length down to 15 stitches per inch to get each zig 3/8 inch apart. I would think you would want the stitch even closer than that for edging an applique (unless it's needle turned).

I would play around with "L" for a child's quilt and see if you can get it the right width to virtually "disappear". I think it's more likely to hold up to washing frequently.