Featherweight Newbie
 

Hey All,

I am pretty new here, more of a lurker than a poster, and I am anxiously awaiting a featherweight machine. I have searched and have read some informative things, but as a newbie there is so much information! What is the FIRST thing I should do after she arrives at my home? According to the seller she works, looks good, and saw stitching she made. I also ordered some lubricant and I have sewing machine oil here at home. So, my first thought was to oil and lube her. But maybe I should plug her in and see if she turns on? Thanks for words of wisdom. :D

Cozy

Enjoy your new machine! Try oiling well at first, for sure. Then just play with it. It will 'tell' you what it needs. These are very simple machines so there's not a lot to know... but you can search online. There are lots of sites for Featherweights and how to care for them.

Welcome to the board! The most important thing I learned about my featherweights came from an OSMG (old sewing machine guy). He explained to me that because of the tight tolerances the featherweight was made with it is best to always start by holding the threads in your hand with gentle pressure towards the back of the machine when you start to stitch. He also said it was a good idea to use the handcrank to lower the needle into the fabric before stitching. This eliminates the dreaded bobbin thread tangle that the FW can be prone to. Once I "trained" myself to do this, I no longer had the thread tangles in the bobbin.
You will love your machine! I use my FW's for 95 percent of my sewing. Fun to use, portable and perfect straight stitch! A good resource for videos, info and supplies is the April 1930's web site. Their school page is full of helpful info. http://april1930s.com/school/

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*** Hi! Y'all from the upstate of South Carolina.
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Thanks all for your quick replies! I didn't realize that my question was my first posting! :D I just checked the shipping info and the scheduled delivery is THURSDAY, not next week as I thought! WooHoo!!! :D

If you're on fb, here's a great group to belong to and run by April 1930s. Pretty much anything you want to know or need help with and a fun group of people :)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SingerFWGroup/

You will love using your Featherweight. I have 2 and had both checked by a sewing machine guy and he did all the servicing they needed which was a GOOD cleaning and oiling.

I would plug it in and see if it runs just don't run it for but a minute, then dust, clean and oil.l Have fun, they are great little machines.

Welcome to the group and I love your name.:)

I went and joined the FB page, thanks for that tip! Thank you all for your wealth of information! :D :D :D

don't use soap and water to clean it up, it will silver the beautiful gold decals. Guess how I know :)