Opinion on Singer 403 Slant O Matic?
 

Hi All,

Can anyone offer an opinion on the 403 Slant-O-Matic? Is this still in the era of Great Singers? Or did the Slanty feature cause problems? What are the pros/cons of the slanted business? (Am I correct that it is the needle bar which is slanted?)

Thanks in advance,

Cecilia, who needs another sewing machine like she needs another hole in the head...

I have a 401A slant and I consider it still in the era of Great Singers.

The Singer 403 is the same machine as the Singer 401A which is considered by many to be the greatest sewing machine ever built. The only difference between the 2 machines is the 403 uses black 'Top Hat' cams to form all the stitches - including zigzag. You will have to have a complete set of cams to do all the stitches but, once you have them, the machine is trouble free since there is no built in cam stack, like the 401A, to get gummed up. If you can get it for a good price with all of its fiddly bits you'll have a great machine.

Great machines for piecing and misc. sewing. Fine for straight stitch quilting. Lousy at free motion quilting.

I have one - it's my go to machine and it is NOT for sale.... That tell you anything?

Hmmm. That tells me something that I never thought possible: Miriam might, actually, when not acquiring, tinkering, and tinkering more, actually find time to sew.

Astonishing. :-)

I do sew... LOL I do have others at home. I keep using the 403.
We camp in some tents I sewed on my big commercial Consew. I learned a lot about sewing machines from that stupid thing. I used to make and sell tents. I've sewed since I was a little kid. Lately I've been sewing some jeans skirts and I'm trying to come up with some ways to make some linen clothing actually fit. I only do baggy to an extent... I have a week long trip where I have to look good... really good... I'm hoping the linen will pretty much mix and match so I don't have to haul too much. I got a bunch of quilt pieces cut out and my DGD begged to piece them. I let her... if I want to quilt I have to keep it hush hush I guess. My sister got a lot of the excess fabric I had around for quilting when she drove up here. She does a quilt a week for a pregnancy center - I try my hardest to overwhelm her with cool fabric.

that was the only kind my Aunt Betty would so on... My 404 is a slant.

I have a 401 that is my go to machine. I do ALL my piecing on it. it sews a wonderful seam and has never let me down. I have a Viking saphaire I only use for FMQ on tabletop or the fancy stitches and a brother 1500 on frame for quilting. Would never consider piecing on those two, I love the 401.

I bought a dozen of those 404s from a school one time. I still have 3 - I think I used parts from two of them and got 10 working. I just got #11 going but #12 needs way too many parts. I think those are real nice machines if you just do straight sewing. I think they are my #1 choice for teaching.