Featherweight Trouble
 

I inherited a 1952 featherweight the other day from a close friend. Her mom used to sew at home for work and every afternoon when she got home from school her mom would make her sew, helping with her sewing jobs and she hated it. When my friend was a teenager her mom gave her this featherweight as a birthday gift and it was her least favorite gift ever since she hated having to sew! She decided to give it to me since she's used it only about twice over the years. It runs well and was quite clean. I cleaned it up and oiled it but it's not sewing well and I'm not sure where the problem lies. It is skipping stitches and just not catching the bobbin thread I think. I have the manual and everything seems to be where is supposed to be so I'm not sure what to try next. Any ideas?

Did you make sure to insert the needle NFL (needle flat left) and thread from right to left?

Double-check to make sure your needle is in correctly, that it's properly threaded, and that your bobbin case is properly inserted. Any one of these things can be the cause. Check the screw that holds your presser foot on the machine -- I've had Singers on which that screw loosens and it will mess up the stitching. I know there are many others who have far more experience that me, but those are some primary things.

Jeanette

I just did that the other day..My FW was sewing fine and I decided to clean and oil it and then it would would not sew. I came to this board and did what they recommended to check the needle. Wow, and I have been sewing for over 50 years and I have inserted the needle wrong!! After adjusting the tension it works like a charm.

So I would certainly check the needle.

Also, check that the finger is in the right place - photo 10 on this link:
http://thefeatherweight221factory.co...MachineJam.php

Most common reason for issues with stitching on a featherweight after cleaning.

That is terrific news. Sometimes it is the easy stuff us old timers overlook. I found one day recently I put the bobbin in the wrong way. I had put a bobbin in my vintage Bernina a zillion times. How could I do it backwards just once??

The post “Weird stoppages ..... -- by J Miller” just reminded me ofone other thing that can cause problems in a 221 Featherweight. That is threadjams in any of the parts in the hook assembly. These pieces of thread can causea total jam or just cause the machine to sew badly. Very small pieces can causelarge problems.

I have found that turning the hand wheel backwards on the Featherweight, will cause thread jams every time.