What's up with these hemmer feet...the 'same' but 'different'
#1
What's up with these hemmer feet...the 'same' but 'different'
[ATTACH=CONFIG]533107[/ATTACH]I have two hemmer feet that are supposedly the same, but they aren't
Foot #1 is marked 35857, with no other words. It is wider and seems a bit heavier than Foot #2. It is dull nickel color and the clamping area is a bit shorter than Foot #2.
Foot #2 is marked 161671, SINGER, GT. BRITAIN. It has a shiny chrome finish. The needle slot (the area the needle passes through?), is much wider than the slot on Foot #35857.
The #161671 is the hemmer foot recommended for my FM 252 in both the 1971 and 1974 versions of its instructions manual. The #35857 is the foot the shop actually included with the machine.
What is the difference in these two feet?
(It will take me a minute to add photos since they are in my iPod.)
Foot #1 is marked 35857, with no other words. It is wider and seems a bit heavier than Foot #2. It is dull nickel color and the clamping area is a bit shorter than Foot #2.
Foot #2 is marked 161671, SINGER, GT. BRITAIN. It has a shiny chrome finish. The needle slot (the area the needle passes through?), is much wider than the slot on Foot #35857.
The #161671 is the hemmer foot recommended for my FM 252 in both the 1971 and 1974 versions of its instructions manual. The #35857 is the foot the shop actually included with the machine.
What is the difference in these two feet?
(It will take me a minute to add photos since they are in my iPod.)
Last edited by Caroline94535; 10-11-2015 at 09:30 AM.
#2
Age mostly - and one was made in G Britain.
Singer made small modifications to attachments over time, as styles and fabric changed.
One neat item - Singer included quite different sets of attachments with machines normally sold to other than US markets. Some attachments are rare and valuable in the US that are quite common in other countries.
BTW - Singer did make some hemming feet with wider hems - but I believe those are stamped with the width on them, and they are quite rare. Most of what you see was what was included with the basic set for that era, but a basic hemmer foot included with a 1900 machine is not the same foot as the basic hemmer foot included with a 1940, and things really changed after the influx of outsourcing after WW2. And the improvements in machining tools.
It amazes me at some of what was produced when the work was done without the aid of computer driven anything.
Singer made small modifications to attachments over time, as styles and fabric changed.
One neat item - Singer included quite different sets of attachments with machines normally sold to other than US markets. Some attachments are rare and valuable in the US that are quite common in other countries.
BTW - Singer did make some hemming feet with wider hems - but I believe those are stamped with the width on them, and they are quite rare. Most of what you see was what was included with the basic set for that era, but a basic hemmer foot included with a 1900 machine is not the same foot as the basic hemmer foot included with a 1940, and things really changed after the influx of outsourcing after WW2. And the improvements in machining tools.
It amazes me at some of what was produced when the work was done without the aid of computer driven anything.
#3
Is there any way to tell when the older #35857 would have been made?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]533114[/ATTACH]
The newer (?) Gt. Britain for is on the left. This shows how it is shorter than the #35857 foot on the right.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]533114[/ATTACH]
The newer (?) Gt. Britain for is on the left. This shows how it is shorter than the #35857 foot on the right.
Last edited by Caroline94535; 10-11-2015 at 09:44 AM.
#4
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 1,963
Hard to tell unless there are any data that states start end end of production. I would expect it to be 1930s and older. Even though chrome details on the machines were standard (knobs, levers, face plate, ect), the feet were often nickle plated, or other type nickle coating I'm not sure how they did it. By the 40's and closer to the 50s all original accessory boxes I've seen have been chromed, and the basic stitch foot hinged. In the 1930s I think it still was one piece metal and nickle finish.
#6
Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
#7
Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NJ
Posts: 88
They might be two different sized hemmers. If you can, try them out to see if on has a wider hem the other. Kinda looks like it in the last photo??
This link has some good info on hemmers.
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/...emmer-part-one
This link has some good info on hemmers.
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/...emmer-part-one
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