Life is indeed a stitch!
Berryhill Heirlooms and Susie Gay present techniques, heirloom sewing, hand embroidery and other musings. Come and join in the fun with Susie, a Home Economist, and savor a little rest from your hectic day...and yes, it's a Degree she uses every day!

Monday, July 26, 2021

Featherweight Love

 I love Featherweights. They're cute, easy to maintain, extremely portable and just plain fun to sew on. I stitched my last quilt top on my 1935 one, a 221 Featherweight  (the quilt is now at the "long armer")


.

But this past weekend, while visiting very dear friends near Cary, North Carolina, and on a shopping excursion to Apex, North Carolina, I found another 221 Featherweight....... It had only been in the "junk" shop for one day. There was no price on it. And it came with a folding table.  Let's spell it "Trouble with a Capital T" as the song goes. The family brought it to this store after the mother had passed away.

I asked the store owner about it and the price (which I will not divulge so you don't question my sanity) and I gulped. He gave me a brief history and said they had brought it in the day before. Okay, I admit it: I'm a sucker for old sewing machines. I thought "too expensive" but thought again knowing what the machines go for, not even considering the table: more than the price of the two combined. My dear, wonderful, understanding husband said "I'll buy it for you...go ahead!". Well, I brought that case and table up to the register so fast and whipped out my charge card faster than you can say "sold!". And we loaded it into the car with me dreaming of the cleaning, restoration and researching yet to come.

The Featherweight is dated in the June 26, 1947 production run. It's in pretty good shape along with it's original carrying case. But it stinks because of the old, nasty drip pad underneath. So the restoration begins..... I've removed the bottom plate and was able to easily pry up the old, smelly pad and throw it away. Below is the underside of the machine with the plate removed.

The bottom plate had to be soaked in rubbing alcohol (I really didn't want to use kerosene, which is recommended) to remove any remaining gunk. It came out nicely and certainly smells a whole lot better!

So far, so good. I'm happy. Next I have to start cleaning the innards and do basic maintenance. If you ever want to learn more about these fabulous machines, I highly recommend The Featherweight Shop for their wonderful supplies, parts and goodies, plus their very informative videos and online instructions. Until the next Featherweight chapter: Happy Stitching!!


No comments:

Post a Comment

Send me your comments and thoughts..I would love to hear from you!