Vintage Attachments for Straight Stitch Singers

 

Back in the day, if you had a straight stitch machine like this 222 Featherweight, you had to install a clunky attachment which moved the fabric in various ways to accomplish the zigzag, buttonhole, blind stitch or decorative stitches.  

We don't have to use any of these today if we don't want to, but they are actually really fun to use, and are quite ingeniously designed. 

(All the attachments I'm showing are for low shank machines so would fit the Singer 66, 99, 15-91, 201, 221, and 222 among others.)

First up is not really a sewing attachment, but works with a sewing machine.  It is the Automatic Pinker (as opposed to a similar hand cranked version.) If you like to pink your yardage before washing it prior to sewing, this will accomplish it quickly and easily.  Theoretically you could use it to finish seams, although I'd probably run the raw edges through here before sewing the seams, to make it easier. 

Here's what I believe is the oldest of the Singer buttonholers (as far as I know, anyway.). It doesn't take cams like the later Singer Automatic Buttonholer, but with this attachment you can make adjustments for your length of buttonhole, stitch width, and width of the buttonhole opening. You can "fine tune" it to get just the size you want. 

The blind stitch attachment is really a game changer for hemming on a straight stitch machine. It makes perfect blind hems quickly and easily. 

 

This is a very early zigzagger, and doesn't do any fancy stitches.  But if you have a Featherweight, this fits right into your case, and is no bigger than a ruffler foot.

For more zigzag options, you have the Singer Automatic Zigzagger which does beautiful decorative stitches.  It is big and clunky, because it holds a large cam for the different stitch patterns.  

There are sixteen different stitch patterns in all, although only four came with the zigzagger and the others were sold separately in sets of four.

It's amazing what beautiful stitches you can make on a Featherweight with the Automatic Zigzagger.  

Singer 127 Treadle

 I decided to finally sit down and make an actual project with my Singer 127 treadle machine.  So I started with these quilted baskets.  There is a learning curve to using a treadle, and this project gave me lots of practice with handling the machine, what with piecing and quilting the fabric and constructing the baskets.

This is a machine I've rarely used because it is in my foyer rather than in my sewing room upstairs.  (I've never been able to convince anyone to carry it upstairs for me - and I don't have room there anyway.)

The Singer 127 differs from the 27 in a few ways: the bobbin winder is higher up and uses a rubber tire to run off the hand wheel.  It has a button to eject the bobbin case, and an automatic tension release.  It is the upgraded version of the 27. 

This machine has a "vibrating shuttle" with a bullet shaped bobbin case and a cylindrical bobbin. 

And winding the bobbin is very cool to see, if not a bit slow and clunky.  You have to pedal a LOT!

Starting the machine takes a little practice, you first have to spin the wheel toward you and immediately start pedaling.  If you don't time it just right, the wheel will sometimes spin backwards and mess you up.

It is kind of like when you drive a car with manual transmission where you have to let the clutch out and give it gas at the same time - not too much, not too little or it will stall out.  But with practice it gets to be second nature. 

There are some other challenges with this type of machine, but you figure out how to work around it.  The stitch length and tension knobs aren't calibrated, for example, so you just have to turn them until you find the sweet spot and there is no way to "save your place."  And there is no back tack, so you have to fasten off your seams in another way.  

I Started with piecing, which is straightforward and no back tack is necessary

Then did straight line quilting, which is also simple and straightforward and doesn't require back tacking

Sewing it all together was the last step, and by that point I was getting more used to the machine.  It handled well through the thick layers of fabric, batting and stabilizers.  I was able do more precise sewing to make the handles - I was getting proficient enough to turn corners while sewing and also to do topstitching.