Opinions please regarding Singer Featherweight year to buy
 

I know many folks like to get a featherweight from the year they were born. I keep my eye out for that ('58), but rarely see them. Aside from that, what other year might I hunt for? Recommendations please and thanks!

I don’t know that you could find a specific year, as Singer often assigned large lots of serial numbers at a time that might cover a few years production. Personally I would look for the later models, but if the price was good I wouldn’t worry too much about the year. Condition and accessories would be more important in my opinion, I would rather sew on it than work on it, but some folks love a challenge!

I agree with Sewjourner. While I have one from the year I was born (it was an accident. My husband bought it and had no clue), I'd look for good condition and the accessories that came with it.

The year only matters if it matters to you. I would look for good condition, a faceplate I like (flowers or striated), a quiet motor, and other things I care about before I would search for a particular year.

I have a 1941 and a 1955. My 1941 is Red and my birth year and favorite color. My 1955 is black and both are loved dearly. 1941 is named Ruby and 1955 is Aunt Gertie. I will keep them always. It seems once I name them I can't part with them. I still would love a white one and I am searching for Featherweight tables.

I recently posted my 221 purchase of a lifetime and never even thought about wanting a date of birth as important to me. Twenty years of looking brought a beautiful 221 and me together. Good ones are scarce in my area at a reasonable price.

It would have been easy to just buy one from one of the many great places online that refurbish them but there would be no real attachment in that for me. Every yard sale, 2nd hand shop and auction I visited all became part of the history of my quest. I was more interested in the hunt and finding a clean, working model, with all the parts intact and the wait was worth it.

Enjoy the hunt and when you find the "one" for you, you will know.

I have quite a few featherweights and teach classes about them. So, I do have my favorite things about different machines from different years. I like the throat plate that has numbers on it so something later than 1953 would usually have that.

I want a quiet machine. Sometimes that's hard to determine if it hasn't been cleaned, oiled, greased and the motor lubed. Doing all of that will always give a quieter sound.

I have a white machine but it doesn't have motor ports. I would encourage people to only buy white ones with motor ports. Without those you can't really service the motor.

Cosmetic condition is usually what people look for the most. It doesn't have to be mirror finish but I don't want major issues.

I own 13 machines now and always look for more.

There were 221K and 222Ks made in 1958 (Scotland), at least according to ISMACS. I couldn't find any made in the US factory that year.

I like the black ones with god decals the art nouveau decor on the chrome plates. I know some say their white 221 doesn't sew as good as their black 221 and vice versa. I guess it's all about detecting and sorting out minor issue, the quality of these are consistend and very good during the production years of this model. There are tan Featherweights too and I think some even have found crinkle finish machines.

I have a black one and a white one and I like the black one better. To me is just has more character. They both sew well. My black one has the Centennial badge but I don't think that means a whole lot.
I almost put my white one on Ebay because one just like it sold for $650! That's crazy, but true. I decided to keep mine though.