In March of 2010, my husband found a sewing machine in an old vinyl case. He was cleaning out my mother's house after she passed away. He brought the case home and stored it in our garden shed.
He said there was a nice sewing machine inside and that he planned on selling it later at a garage sale. He showed it to me, but at that time I wasn't interested because I was still numb and shocked at the passing of my mom. So the case sat in our garden shed until today.
My love of sewing began while taking a sewing class in the 5th grade. My mom was happy to see how much I loved sewing and bought me a second-hand machine. When I got home from school one day I was tickled to see that she had bought me my very own sewing machine.
She was proud that I was getting all A's. She also thought that having my own machine would encourage me to continue sewing and she was right. I contined to sew until I graduated from high school and then rarely ever sewed after that.
My husband bought me a Kenmore machine a few years ago and I made a few things but the machine is rarely ever used. During the past couple of weeks I've thought about sewing again.
While driving home from work today I thought about the sewing case that's stored in my garden shed.
As I opened the shed, I realized that I have a huge project in front of me. This shed is a mess!
Okay.....time to get the case out and see what's inside.
I'm nervous and excited to discover what kind of machine is in this old green vinyl case. I'm secretly hoping that she might be an old Singer Featherweight.
I slowly opened the case and took a quick peek inside.
Oh goodie it's a Singer machine! I brought the case inside the house to get a better look.
To my delight and surprise here she is!
She's not in the best shape but maybe she can be reconditioned?
I'm not plugging this thing in! She definitely needs a new foot pedal or at least a new cord.
While doing a little online research, I found out that mine is from the AE series. The AE series were built from 1935 to 1938. There are a few websites with great information about these little workhorses. The Featherweight 221 Factory has a wealth of information about this little gem.
After looking online for sewing machine repair shops, I found a man whose family has been in the sewing machine business for years. He cleans, conditions and repairs all kinds of sewing machines and he is VERY familiar with the Singer Featherweight. He asked me how much I paid for it. When I told him it was my mother's and I found it at her house for free, he said it's definitely worth reconditioning.
He gave me some quotes and said he could get my little machine re-conditioned oiled and running smoothly for about $75.00. He said a new cord would be about $15.00 and that I could probably still use the old foot pedal. He also asked if I had the original manual that came with the machine. I told him no and he said he had one he could give me. Maybe I'll get lucky and find an original sewing case to store it in. I'm not that fond of the green vinyl case.
So guess what I'll be doing this weekend? I'll be dropping off my machine for repairs and I'll check out some fabric for my first sewing project of the year!!
