Three Featherweight 221 Attachments
Sewing Feet that Came With the Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine
The very popular and collectible Singer Featherweight 221 sewing machine, manufactured between the 1930s and the 1960s, came neatly packed in a little black carrying case along with several useful but sometimes mystifying attachments.
Hemmer Foot for the Featherweight
The simplest of the attachments is a little foot with a small spiral at the front, called the hemmer. As its name implies, it is used to stitch a narrow finished edge on fabric. To use the foot, fold the edge of the fabric under twice, about an eighth of an inch each time, and finger press the first few inches in place. Feed the folded fabric into the spiral and lower the presser foot.
It may be necessary to use a straight pin to work the first half-inch or so of the fabric through the spiral and into position under the needle. Lower the needle with the handwheel and begin to sew. It helps to pull the bobbin and upper threads toward the back of the machine with the left hand while guiding the fabric with the right hand to move the fabric through the spiral.
Featherweight Adjustable Hemmer
Like the hemmer, This foot makes a neat, machine sewn hem. The foot looks far more complicated than the plain hemmer because it is adjustable. Fabric is folded and fed into the foot just like it is for the plain hemmer. Use the thumb screw on the front of the foot to set the hem width anywhere from 3/16ths of an inch to about an inch wide. The foot guage is numbered from one to eight, with one being the narrowest hem.
Featherweight Zipper Foot
This simple little foot is attached to a horizontal bar with a thumbscrew on the back. When the thumbscrew is loosened, the zipper foot can be slid to the left or right of the needle. To sew a zipper in place, the needle should come down about an eighth of an inch from the zipper's teeth, and the zipper foot should be placed on the opposite of the needle from zipper teeth. (See photo.)
When adjusting the zipper foot, it is important to test the needle travel with the hand wheel to make sure the needle won’t strike the foot during sewing. The thumb screw should be firmly tightened to keep the foot from shifting while sewing the zipper in place.
Though the Singer Featherweight is a simple straight-stitch machine, its attachments give it a great deal of versatility.
Read More about Singer Featherweights
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