I’m sorry, I totally forgot what day it was today as I got a bit sidetracked getting my 2 Singer Featherweights up and running today thanks to the help of the lovely Stephanie (@sewbespokeandco) She convinced me that I didn’t need to fork out for a service and could actually do it myself, so I thought I’d show you what I’ve been working on, and also, thanks to a prompt on the #missingmarket event at the weekend, I thought I’d give you a wee tour of my machine collection (yes, I admit right now, I have a sewing machine collection problem!) Next week we’ll resume the organisation tips.
This is Little Sod (guess how well behaved he was while I tried to get his tension right) He’s a Singer 221K Featherweight from July 1952 made in Kilbowie just down the road from me, and other than an unsightly sticker from a previous supplier/service centre that I need to find a way to get off, he’s in really good nick, even his box is nice and shiny. Thanks to Stephanie’s tips to turn the needle the correct way (so flat bit to the left, not the back) and her talking me off several ledges trying to get his lower and upper tension sorted (including the tension knob on top coming off twice) he’s now sewing in a nice, orderly manner.
This is Cussed. He’s a Singer 221 Featherweight from December 1939 made in Elizabethport, New Jersey. On his motor he has a badge stating that his motor was converted to a 240V one in October 1953, so I’m not sure if he was a leftover from before the war that was exported when Kilbowie ran out or what, but it looks like it was an official conversion either way. His decals are a little more worn, and his box a little more battered, but he’s looking rather better than I suspect I will at 77! All he needed to get him working correctly was to turn the needle the right way round, and he’s sewing like a dream. after refusing to even pick up the lower thread before, hence his name.
This is Chunk. He’s a Singer 99K from July 1917 made in Kilbowie. He’s in really good nick, but as he’s also a hand cranked beast, he doesn’t get to sew, he just gets to be decorative. And heavy – hence his name. I rescued him from a salvage place because I was sure he was going to suffer a terrible fate if I didn’t!
Next up we have the Jones Brothers. Fred is the oldest, he’s a D53 and unfortunately I don’t know his exact age because apparently the Joneses didn’t want anyone keeping up with them and had a complex serial number system that even the interwebs can’t figure out as far as I can see! Because the Jones Brothers both came from a sewing machine servicing seller on eBay they both worked straight out of the box, even if Parcelforce did do their best to destroy them both on the journey! I got them so that I could sew leather on them, not because Big Brother can’t do that, but because I wanted to protect him a bit. I only actually meant to get one, but there was a slight accident, and anyway. Wilbur’s pretty…
This is Wilbur, the younger Jones. He’s a D68, and again I don’t know his exact age, but isn’t he a lovely colour? Both the Brothers will be getting new cases thanks to the aforementioned Parcelforce incident, and the seller will be dispatching them to me tomorrow.
Moving into the modern era, this is Little Brother, who was my first sewing machine, a Brother XR6600. He’s a great wee machine for piecing, and I made several dresses and bags and also my first quilt on him, but he does have digestion issues with bulkier items, so he became my backup machine when Big Brother came along. I have no idea about the puppy, seriously, but he’s cute, no? If you open his little door it shows all the stitches you can do.
Big Brother’s Little Brother was next on the scene after Little Brother. He’s a Brother 3034D overlocker, and I’m clearly too lazy to unthread him every time. He is actually very easy to thread though as he has idiot-proof colour coded paths marked out.
And finally Big Brother. He’s a Brother NX2000 Laura Ashley special (I have no idea what makes the Laura Ashley-ness other than the flowery badge, but whatever). He’s my main machine and I do pretty much everything on him, but he’s really not that portable due to his rather enormous bulk! Even without his table on he’s a big boy, so I’m glad that I now have some lighter, smaller models to take away with me to events. I’m not going to lie, Big Brother is worth more than the entire rest of the family put together (especially as all the eBay purchases were almost entirely made using Nectar points built up with my supermarket shops), but he’s been worth the investment, he really is a workhorse.
And for a size comparison, Little Sod sitting on Big Brother’s extension table…
So does anyone else out there have a sewing machine collection problem? Or is it just me?
I love your collection! I have My Machine (a Bernina 220), Mam’s New Machine (a New Home purchased in about 1984) in the loft and The Heavy Bu**er, a combi New Home (sewing machine and overlocker also from 1984) which someone gave me a couple of weeks ago. Then there’s the big machine (a Brother from 1968) which lives in Mam’s house (it’s hers) but which I’d love to have hear as it sews through four or five layers of thick denim like it’s two layers of cotton. I don’t think it counts as a collection or a problem…
Gosh that’s what I call a collection. A proper collectors collection . I have my mothers old Alfa which have me a bad electric shock . It was replaced by me janome who seemed great at the time but I was just easily impressed. Now I have my new friend pfaffy . Must get rid of my old ones. I do have a fine teapot collection though
I love your collection. It’s just the right size for a budding collector. 🙂
I used to have so many sewing machines that I would give them away to friends who were learning to sew. I once acquired six treadle machines from an old carriage house that was being torn down that I refurbished and refinished the cabinets. I still have two of them. The two machines I use the most are my 40 year old Singer and a Janome I bought three years ago. I guess you could say I have a wee problem when it comes to saying no to any opportunity to add to my collection.
Lovely collection and I have fond memories of using little brother too. I wonder if you can use the hand crank should the power go out and a burning desire to sew by candle light occurred?
They’re lovely Katy but I suspect they create a storage problem all on their own.
Wow I see what you mean about the size of Big Brother! I have 3 sewing machines. 1) my grandmothers hand crank 99k (that was, I suspect, a wedding present) – but I don’t use it. It never got converted, probably because they didn’t get electricity until 1955. I also have a Silver 20HD, and last year I acquires a Singer 221K. DH already thinks I have too many, so unless I get into garment sewing and need an overlocker, that will be it! (well, until the children move out and I have more space…..) 😉
Oh I didn’t realise you had this collection, don’t blame you for hording Featherweights they are so delightful.
HI, I wonder of your younger Jones comes from the 60’s. The lower case looks very like the one on the machine your Mum got for her 21st in 1972. It could be a replacement of course as the design of the machine looks somewhat older.
Himself
I think I’m only 1 behind you! 3 brother embroidery machines (one too knackered to use for paying jobs, and one ideal for taking to school / village fairs with a pile of flannels to embroider kids names on), a basic and a decent (mid range) brother sewing machine, a bernina workhorse as old as me, and a hand crank singer older than me! There is a plastic child’s sewing machine in the collection too, but too much like a toy to really count!
You have 8 machines! And you come clean about it! Well done!
It has become somewhat fashionable here in the Netherlands to go hunting for old machines and the best places to look for ar either online ones or in real second hand shops. I bought my Featherweight by accident on E-Bay and then I was hooked on old machines. We went to Amsterdam to pick one up: a real old Singer; the 94-year old owner couldn’t sew now more and her daughter sold it for her. The houses you may enter! The families you meet!
I’m getting carried away here, sorry. I have 8 too: 1 hand crank, 1 treadle, 6 others. Hurrah for old machines
Lovely! How fun to see your collection. I have 5 machines, 1 have never even sewn on. Sad but true. But the others all have a very special place in my sewing journey…