Category Archives: sewing machine

Featherweight

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DSC_0278My husband surprised me tonight with an early Valentine’s gift–this Singer Featherweight 221-1.

She is still unnamed although we know she was born November 7, 1949 in the Clydebank, Scotland factory of Kilbowie with serial number EF563501.  She is missing her bobbin case so she will not be pressed into service until I am able to locate and purchase one.

I have been on the hunt for a Featherweight for some time now.  I recently lost out on one on an e-Bay auction and then lost out on a white model because someone got to the seller before I could.  I was beginning to think I was never going to lay my hands on one of these precious machines.  That is until, tonight.  🙂

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EDIT (Feb 9, 2013):  My Featherweight now has a name!  My husband and I have named my Featherweight, Charlotte–a Scottish girl’s name.

Cleopatra

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Cleo

Cleo was my Christmas present from my husband and kids this past Christmas.  As near as I can determine, she is a reproduction of the Singer model 15.  (Serial number NTL 4209555)

My husband and son worked on making a new base for her and included the name plaque which says, “Silver Thimble Quilting”.

Cleo was purchased by my son at a police auction so she does not have a manual.  I threaded her tonight and took her for a test drive.  Unfortunately, the fabric is not advancing as she stitches.  I am not sure if I have her set up wrong or if something needs to be adjusted as I don’t have the manual.

It doesn’t matter that I can’t currently sew with Cleo as she is beautiful and she will look great in the foyer of our house.

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Moving Projects Forward Has Come to an Abrupt Hault

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Thursday night, I was making great progress on another UFO. I was busy adding the sashing strips to my dryer sheet diamond string blocks. I even got one full row of blocks sewn together and I was ready to put the last seam in the second row when it happened.

I had pinned my blocks together and I was busy pulling out the pins just before the presser foot reached them. I missed pulling out a pin, but my machine hit it dead on.


So now sadly, my DSM is in the hospital awaiting the technician’s attention. The needle remained intact in the accident, but the pin was split in two and was jammed into the machine knocking my machine out of time.
So now, there is just a hole in my work table where Heidi would normally sit. I can tell you that I am really missing her. We have been together since 1999. My husband bought Heidi for me when I graduated from my professional accounting designation courses. It had been a long haul–10 years of study and work experience and my husband felt I deserved something very special.
This is not my Heidi, but a machine very similar to her. (I pulled this picture off the Internet.)

Prior to Heidi, I had a Kenmore that I named Zip. This machine had two speeds–super fast and stop. I had to sew with a slipper shoved into the presser foot to help slow Zip down. You always had to be ready to grab the fly wheel when Zip would get into one of his moods and take off at top speed. If Zip was happy and sewing at a comfortable speed, he would make a sound like an Austrailian diggorie-do. Zip still lives at my house, taking up space in the cupboard. My daughter has used Zip on occasion but I have not sewn on Zip since Heidi came to live with me.
The only other machine that I have is an antique Singer treadle machine that was given to me years ago by my grandmother. I posted about that Singer machine back in July 2006: http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2006/07/singer.html This machine does not have a 1/4″ foot for piecing or a walking foot.
The Bernina dealer has said that Heidi will be out of commission for at least two weeks so I may have to bring either Zip or the Singer back into service