The White Featherweight - Why Would You Want One?

 I never really wanted a white Featherweight until one just "happened" to come my way.

I tend to go through phases in sewing machines: 

• The Black Straight Stitching Singer phase (15-91, 201, 99, 221, 127, 301), 
• The Slant-O-Matic phase (401, 403, 404, 500, 503), 
• The Style-O-Matic/Fashion Mate phase (237, 328, 338)  
• The Touch & Sew phase (600, 600e, 603.) 
• The Swing Needle Phase (a couple of 319s) 
• The oddball model here or there - an Atlas, an Elna, a Wizard
• Countless Kenmore 158 machines

(Recently, I've begun clearing the decks and I've sold all except a handful of my all time favorites.)

But a White Featherweight has never been on my radar until I started going through my current phase which is compact size machines.

Already having the black 221, the Genie 354 and the Mini Kennie 1050, I kind of wanted to round out the collection with a white Featherweight just to see what all the hype is about. 

I'll make this short and sweet, it is VERY pretty.  But it isn't of the same quality as a black Featherweight.  It does not sew quite as nicely - and you'll have to take my word for that, it's like driving a car, you just "feel" it.  There is a kind of cheaper feeling to the whole machine which isn't to say at ALL that it isn't high quality, but it's a step down from the original 221. 

Verdict: the "WOW" factor is the looks - this is one really pretty machine.  It sews fine, nothing wrong with it, but it just doesn't send me. 

Singer Featherweight 222k

 It's been a while since I featured a new machine here.  Mostly I've been selling them, not adding them. I'm trying to downsize. This post shows my "skeleton crew" of machines that made the purge.

But then I added just one more because no collection is totally complete without THIS ONE. Singer Featherweight 222K

These aren't readily available in the U.S., they were never sold here so when you find one it came in from Canada or the U.K. where they were made. Many of them have the 220v motors which need to be replaced, rewound for 110v, or used with a step down transformer.  

Happily, this one is from Canada so it has a 110v motor and no revisions were needed.  

Basically the appeal is twofold, the main thing being this: a tubular free arm.  There were few, if any, Singers of that era that had a free arm (the Singer 320 was one of them, but I don't know if that came before or after this model) so for the most part you had to get a European branded machine (Bernina, for example) if you wanted a free arm in the 1950s.  

Also, this model, unlike a 221 Featherweight, has a feed dog drop that is actually quick and easy to accomplish.  No fiddly knob underneath the machine like the other black Singers, but a super easy lever to go up and down. 

I've never done this, but I think if you had to sew a badge on a sleeve, you could do it really easily with this tiny little free arm! Ditto if you had to add patches or darns on the knees of jeans

This machine came equipped with a free motion foot, and it truly does beautiful FM work.  I do NOT have skills at free motion, so disregard my clumsy attempts to doodle a design and focus instead on how smoothly and beautifully it stitches.  Of course you couldn't get an entire quilt in there, but you could do FM quilting on small projects in addition to darning and embroidery.

So by my own set of rules, there is no reason to have both a 222 and a 221.  Every machine has to have a unique purpose, remember?  But since I made the rule, I can also bend the rule. They are both beautiful, dontcha think?

Singer 221 (1950) and Singer 222 (1954)

And the first thing I sewed on the 222 was a dust cover for her case. That is pretty much the first project I sew on every new machine.    PATTERN HERE

Denim Shorts - Trying Something New

 Trying to switch up my sewing a little bit and tackle a new challenge.  I went on a brief but furious quilting frenzy recently and churned out four quilts in a couple of months (none of them intricate or exceptional, but good enough for me to say I made quilts!) 

I've made bags galore, some of which I've posted here. I've made doll clothes (ditto.). I've sewed costumes, dresses, and blouses.  Then - seeking a new challenge - I decided to sew JEANS!

I started with denim shorts, so I could learn some of the techniques on a smaller project.  Basically it's all the same thing, except for the length, after all.

Didn't do in seam pockets, I'll save that technique for another project. 

For this project I used my beloved Kenmore 1760 which is about the most rugged machine I have.  And it even did the decorative stitching on the back pockets.

The only thing this machine can't do well is a buttonhole, and I had some trouble with this (long story, I'll skip it for now). I got the job done, after several passes and it looks kind of chewed up but it is what it is.

The main new thing I learned was how to sew in a fly.  The directions with my pattern didn't explain this well, and I even had trouble after looking up several tutorials.  I am practically dyslexic when it comes to Right and Left especially when my instructions sometimes said to do something "on the right side" meaning right versus wrong as opposed to right versus left.  

After ripping it out several times when it didn't come out "right" (meaning correct) I finally figured it out for myself but I STILL don't think I got it right because my lap is on the wrong side.  Sigh...

There was a little struggle sewing down the belt loops at the end - very last step and I almost lost it!  But when I folded up a scrap piece of denim and sewed across that and onto the end of the belt loop it worked perfectly.  Yes, I had to go back and pick out the stitches on the leader fabric, but that wasn't too bad for the result I got. 

And there it is - not perfect, but okay I guess.  I could call this a "muslin" in the sense that it was a practice project.  I may or may not graduate into making a full pair of jeans right away, but at least I know I have learned how to do the most difficult construction techniques and I know my Kenmore can handle it.