Someone offered me a featherweight...
 

...for 250. Complete with case, accessories. He told me it belonged to his great grandmother and she rarely/never used it. Then it sat in his closet ever since. He said that another family member took her cabinet. (i assume after g.grandma passed) It looks to be in nice condition from the pics he showed me. He said it runs and smells like the original oil? Is this a good thing? (I'm most concerned by that comment.)

My local antique shop says they have them between 275-375 depending on condition and accessories. And there is one on Craigslist listed as mint for 850! I did see some listed on the evil bay for 150 and up but convience of no shipping and fear of breaking makes me less inclined to save a buck. Besides this is the originally family.

Good bad? What do you guys think? Did I mention it's my birthday Saturday?

Happy Birthday! Look at it first, of course, but that sounds like a good deal to me.

I would sure jump on that offer.

We paid just under $300.00 for ours in well used, but complete condition. And yes it stunk. Seems a lot of them do. If you want a FW I'd say this price was decently average. Don't worry about the smell, just clean it up, lube as per the instructions in the manual and sew sew sew till the cows come home.


Joe

Yaaaay I'm so glad to hear that it's not a big issue. I'm waiting to see who can come with me to go see it and will probably go on Friday. I don't want to wait too long. But sometimes i get excited too easily and jump into things!

He did say it had the manual as well. Do feather weights take standard needles and stuff like that? Or do they have specialized stuff? Just curious so I can keep it in mind!

FWs take the standard 15x1 needles ( or Singer 20-20s) but they have their own bobbin and bobbin case. The 301 shares the bobbin and case too. They use regular low shank feet and attachments as well.
Bobbins are easy to find so there's no worry there.

Joe

Happy birthday, you need to buy yourself a prezzie. Go to Sew Classic to buy bobbins etc.

Give yourself a birthday present. :thumbup: It is a fair price. Do check to see if has it's bobbin case though. It costs about $50 to replace if missing.

sounds good to me and I have more than 1----but I use them all the time! Have a happy birthday!

Thanks everyone. I feel more comfortable shelling out the money when I hear from the experts. :)