1954 Singer 301 for sale
 

Craig's List has a Singer 301 listed in my home town for $125. The cabinet is worn and it has 1 bobbin and a PDF set of instructions. I looked on E Bay and the machines are all much more expensive. I'm new to vintage machines and I would appreciate any advice from those of you with more experience. I already have a Janome 6500 and a Janome 11000 but I would love to have a straight stitch machine for quilt piecing.

Buy it! I think they are only going to get more expensive as people realize what great machines they are. Smooth, fast, fantastic straight stitch and light to carry. Make sure it has its bobbin case though, a replacement can cost another $90!

Excellent buy!

I have two, one with all the accessories and book, but without a table/cabinet, and one with the cabinet. I paid $7.50 for each one in places far apart. The great price was because I was in the right place at the right time and was paying attention. Sometimes you pay far more running around trying to get the bargain than you would just paying the asking price. I love the way it sounds when I sew, the look of the stitching, the uncomplicated care of it, the fact that it can sew just about anything without a lot of fussing around. I have yet to try free motion quilting with it, but have read accounts on this board from people who do FMQ with their 301. I have a Singer Featherweight and it sits in it's case while my portable 301 gets taken to working get-togethers. For the last two years I have sewn baby gowns for our White Cross Mission charity on my 301 and love the way I can stitch those narrow little ties so close to the edges. When attempting to sew them on my electronic Pfaff, the narrow ties just don't feed well with the wider feed dogs and foot.
I would quiz the seller about the accessories for the machine and question the fact that it has only one bobbin. It sounds like you are going to get a 301, whether you buy this one or keep looking. If and when you do, don't buy those off the peg packages of bobbins made in China.

Thanks for your input. I definitely want a 301 and I called the man who has it for sale. He has an auto refurbishing business and he used it to do custom upholstery for the interior of automobiles. He is upgrading to a 500. I am going to go look at it on Monday morning. I was the only telephone call he received on his ad in Craig's list.

The 301 uses the same bobbin as the Featherweight. I had both for years before I knew that. They are available.

Sew-Classic.com has bobbins at a very good price. I would recommend the 301 over the 221 any day.

Go for it! They're great slant-shank machines! :)

I love my 301's and use them all of the time. I have 2 at the moment -- each with carrying case. I would question the owner about only 1 bobbin and no attachments. Slant attachments are not hard to find, but I certainly would have thought that doing upholstery, he would have had the need for a zipper foot to get close to piping. And the 301 bobbins don't hold a lot of thread, so only one bobbin for his kind of work would have been inconvenient.

301's do seem to be increasing in favor and price.

Another thing -- I use an older Singer slant walking foot with no problem, although I don't think the one I have was made for the narrow feed dogs.

The bobbins may not hold as much thread as...a long arm bobbin....but, you can wind a bobbin while sewing...I do it all the time...just have to think ahead to which color you need next or have an extra spool or cone of your neutral....usually have a couple of bobbins ready and waiting their turn.......this applies to a 301 only.....the Bernina 1630 cannot do this.