Featherweight question
 

I recently saw two Singer Featherweights for sale. One black and one white. Would the white paint machine be something that was painted? Just curious. I normally only see the black ones for sale. Although a few years back I did see a candy apple red one that was a beauty.

The Featherweight does come in a white (sorta celery in some lights) with a green and white case. They usually ask a higher price for the white one since they aren't as common.

Hmmm, I've always thought I might like a white (celery) FW but now that I read your comments, caroline S, maybe not.

I have several black FWs and love them all. They are my go-to piecing machines.

The white featherweights were the last ones (1960's) made by Singer. By that time, women were wanting machines with fancy stitches and featherweights only straight stitched and were relatively expensive to produce. Singer tried to reduce the cost of production by making a machine with no chrome, direct wired it to the motor and put it in cheaper case (some looked like chubby little leatherette gray or turquoise suitcases) with no tray for the attachments. The stitch selector lever was made of plastic and there was no switch for the light (it came on when you plugged the machine in). I've never thought that the white ones stitched as well as the black machines and they are noisier.

The fold up piece (which I'm totally blanking on the correct term for now) is also shorter on the white/celery machines than on the original black and tan machines.

Cheers, K

I have seven Featherweights. Five are black ones and then I have a celery green and a tan one. I love sewing on them all. My white one has been a great machine, and it was the one I always used to take to workshops and retreats. I now take my 222 simply because so few people have ever see one.

Some people find the white machines quieter, due to the belt driven system inside:
http://www.featherweight221.com/fwrx...58204483780159

I've only had one here to service and I can't honestly say I noticed a difference between it and my black ones, but i didn't run them both side by side either.

Ladies,

I have a white Featherweight and it stitches like a dream. PLUS, it was born in 1954! I got lucky -- my son bought the FW at Goodwill -- no case and no attachments, but it is in mint condition. No scratches, etc. The machine is NOT noisy. I don't have any other FW, and I don't expect to buy any more, unless I can find one really reasonable as a gift for my cousin in Oklahoma.

Jeanette