I Bought Another Featherweight
 

I was at an estate sale today that had some sewing machines. I resisted the 500 in a case (sort of regret that. The case probably would have been worth what they were asking for it) but I bought the sort or sad looking featherweight without a case. Its really dirty. I took the drip pan off and the felt pad is sort of like cardboard so I'll be replacing that. I found a newish drip pan on eBay for not too much and bought it but I'm thinking of seeing if I can clean up the extremely dirty and rusty one that's on there. What's the best way to clean up the rust? The screw that holds the drip pan on is also very dirty and rusty so it will need cleaning too. I'm planning to order a new felt drip pad but I"m going to wait to see if there's anything else I need. I want to have this one painted so I'll just be cleaning and getting it running and not doing much cosmetics with it.

Did I mention I love estate sales??

Patrice, Happy for you! Getting a FW is always wonderful!! I really want to have one of mine painted. When you do you must show us! :)

Huzzah. Have fun with it.

I'm cleaning it a bit and seeing what I need to replace now. I'm excited about this project!

Oh! I forgot to add that I also got about 25 bobbins for $8. Score! I have 2 other featherweights and my mom 301a and they all use the same bobbins. Before today, I only had about 6 so was unwinding and rewinding bobbins a lot.

As an update, I worked on the FW all yesterday afternoon. It had a test stitch piece of fabric under the foot and the stitching on it was so-so. When I took the throat plate off, it was clogged with lint and there were a couple of small pieces of thread stuck in the bobbin area. I cleaned those out and put a new bobbin and needle in. Oiled everything the fired her up. She stitched well with some minor tension adjustment but seemed to be running a bit slow. I took the foot pedal/power cord from my other FW. It was a new one I bought a couple years ago after I got that machine. The new FW seemed to run faster with that foot feed so I'll probably be ordering a new one from the Featherweight Shop or Nova. It was really fun cleaning it up and oiling it. I watched some videos from the FW Shop while I was working. I learned a lot I didn't know!

Newbie in the house
 

I am new to vintage collecting. I have 99K, a 1923 gingerbread tiffany 15 and a toy singer both the heavy metal one with a C clamp and a plastic one from the 70's or 80's.
I am just seeing astronomical amounts asked for featherweights and I was just wondering if someone could tell me what the attraction is for them that makes them so desirable?

Thanks
Donna

They're a vintage Singer, so are good machines. No worries, they will work forever if you keep them oiled, and will work almost forever if you don't. They are lightweight - good to take to a class or on a trip. They are cute. They aren't as common as some other vintage Singers, but not actually rare. So that makes them desirable (not everyone can find one they can afford). It's a combination of all the above.

bkay

Patrice, isn't it fun to work on FW's? I love tinkering with them.
I have a FW setup downstairs. My husband said he loves the sound of old Singers because it reminds him of his grandmother when he was little. Nice memory!

inchhirm Welcome to the forum. Since Covid many machine prices have shot up. FW's have gone crazy. Your 99 is easier to work on and less finciky. but it is bigger. love it an maybe a FW will come your way. if not, there are plenty of others to play with.

I love estate sales too. I have not been that lucky yet to find a FW at one, but I haven't been out in the last 2 years either.
I still have 2 and if I were to find another I would be thrilled. Congratulations on your find.

Patrice, good luck with your FW find and hopefully you get her up and running soon, Congratulations

cherrybsixty

Yes! Its so much fun! I got the parts I ordered for this one last weekend. This week I'm going to try to take an afternoon and work on it some more. Awww, that's sweet that it reminds him of his grandmother. That IS a nice memory.

Julia, This is the second one I've picked up at an estate sale. I'll give you a hint. I use Estatesales.net. They give you sales in your area and you can set up things you are looking for thru their "Treasure Tracker" feature. It's how I've found my white FW and the current one.

This one is running fine now. I just needed some new feet for it and a few other things that I wanted to replace. Hopefully, I can get it painted later this year.

Donna: I think the other attraction with FWs and other vintage machines is that you can maintain them yourself. I know of some modern machines that spend more time in the repair shop than they do at their owners home. I have only done the basics but still feel proud of myself for that as I am not mechanically minded. There is not much that goes wrong with them. Like my old ‘57 Chevy versus a new car.

Hi Patrice, I use estatesales.net too. I love it! You get to see pictures of what's going to be in the sales before you even go.

I have also found Featherweights at estate sales, and I bought both of my 301s from estate sales, too. The 301s came in nice cabinets and one had the storage stool too.

To answer your question, they are trendy and have become really popular with collectors. People who go to lots of classes like them as a portable machine they can take. They make cute decorations for your sewing room! They sew ok, but are limited in strength and power by being belt driven and not terribly fast. I'd much rather sew on a 301 with it's slant o matic features and gear driven potted (internal) motor. They are much stronger machines. And still cute!

Sewbizgirl: I envy you your 301, I have been looking for one for about 3 years. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any in my neighbourhood. I have not seen one at any price but I am still hopeful. I have heard such wonderful things about their stitch and their ability to FMQ. Remind me please how much do they weigh?

Donna: The FW weighs 11 pounds but closer to 20 with the wooden case.

That's another great thing about the 301... you can sew with it in a cabinet at home, but if you need to take it somewhere you pull up the handle on top and push the release latch in the cradle and out it pops, ready to be a portable. They weigh 16 lbs alone, only 5 more than the featherweight. The body is aluminum.

When you hear the 301 called the "Featherweight's Big Sister", don't believe it. Aside from the bobbins and bobbin case being the same, they are as different as can be. The 301 is Singer's very first "slant o matic" machine, with the presser bar and needle bar slanting slightly towards the user for better visibility. That means all the feet have to be different too. And as I've already said, the 301 is much more powerful because of the gear driven motor. No belts to slip! She is not Featherweight's big sister.

At a quilt retreat 3 years ago we had a workshop to make a pouch from a placemat. As we now live in the boonies and I have lots of fabric, I made my placemat. But I had to put the binding on three times. Then the workshop starts and the first thing she says is “Cut off the binding!” What? Why? Well she thought the machines would not be able to sew through all those layers of fabric. I had taken my 348 and like the 301 it had no trouble at all. I love my turquoise 348 but I would like to have a 301 for quilting.

Patrice : Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack your thread. We do yard and estate sale each weekend. Both my FWs came from yard sales

Jackpot! 25 Featherweight/301 bobbins is a bonanza. :-)

Yes! I was so excited when I found the first box and then I found another! I only had about 6 bobbins for my FWs/301 so this was great!

adjusting the foot pedal is a very easy fix, you probably don't need a new one.

I could. But I"d just as soon have one of the new ones so I ordered one