Singer Featherweight 222K

About a month ago I had the most incredible stroke of luck.  I managed to obtain the highly sought after Featherweight 222K for only $350.  The 221's fetch more than that here normally.  For those who are wondering what I am going on about, a Singer 221 Featherweight is a very collectable, very small, portable flatbed machine.  They are very popular amongst quilters and fetch a very good price.  However, they were making them for a number of years and made quite a few.  The Singer 222K, on the other hand, was made in very limited numbers, I think they only did about three runs and they are very, very collectable.  The 222K has a few added features that the 221 lacked.  It is a convertible, free-arm machine and drops the feed for darning.  Mine also came with its original instruction manual, box and accessories.  Unfortunately, as I discovered when I got home, it didn't come with a bobbin winder.  This is an extremely irritating fact and I will have to look into buying one to complete my machine.  When I bought it, I was informed that the machine itself was seized, although the hand wheel turned freely.  Further investigation showed that it is missing the stop motion bushing screw, which attaches the bushing the hand wheel sits on, to the main drive shaft of the machine.  If the machine were not seized, it would probably be almost unnoticeable due to the friction between the parts.  So far I have been unsuccessful in locating a spare.

I have given her a slight clean and oiling but she will have to wait until I have more time before I really get to look at her.  She has a name too; Gina, which has always been one of my favourite names.

Various attachments in their metal tray inside her box

Stitch length and feed height adjusters

From front with flat bed attached

Without flatbed

Gina is incredibly small.  When I first saw her I could not believe my eyes, she was almost toy-like.  You can see her size in relation to an average size computer mouse above.  I cannot wait to have enough time to get her cleaned up and stitching.

Interestingly, whilst typing this post I was listening to T. Rex and have just discovered that today is Marc Bolan's birthday.

Husqvarna 250 continued

I finally got to sew with the Husqvarna 250 yesterday morning.  I have to say I wouldn't go out of my way to own one but I have certainly sewed with worse machines.  It certainly has a range of stitches, both functional and decorative.  My stitch sample can be seen below.

The tension isn't perfect, I know but after sitting in the shop for a few days so many children will have 'adjusted' the tension that there is no point in me perfecting it.

Much to my surprise this machine came complete with most of the original accessories.  All of the original feet, the brush and throat plate remover (in one), the light bulb holder, spare spool pin, spool holders, clearance plate and one bobbin were remaining.  And the instruction manual of course (if anyone would like a copy, let me know).

It also came with the hard cover and the flat-bed was still with the machine.  Flat-bed attachments have a frustrating tendency to go walkabout.

Singer Stylist 437 Seized Zig-zag Mechanism

When I came to try the Singer Stylist 437 I discovered that the zig-zag wouldn't work.  I tried the needle position setting and that didn't work either so I figured I had a seized part.  When I came to have a look at what was going on I pulled out the Super Stylist 533 to compare.  It was very simple, the part that was supposed to move the needle bar had seized and wasn't moving the tiniest bit.  I applied oil as shown in the photograph below.

I then (having tried this on the machine that was working, just to check that I could do this without damaging anything) started to force the needle bar to oscillate by pushing it back and forth.  From what I remember you get the greatest movement when the machine is set to widest zig-zag and left needle position.  After I had moved it a few times I applied more oil to the 'oil repeatedly' points.  Ten minutes later it was springing to and fro as well as any working machine.  I have to say I love it when I have a similar machine to compare workings with!  As a real surprise the pedal on this machine was fine and it is now for sale.

Another thing that initially wasn't working was that the flat-bed refused to lock in.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of this but I'll try and explain.  Start by turning your machine up and taking the bottom off so that you can see where the flat-bed locks in.  Now try and attach the flat-bed.  I found that the metal pin wasn't long enough and thus the cut in it wasn't allowing the catch to catch in.  If you turn the flat-bed up the other way you'll see a grub screw holding the metal pin.  Just loosen the grub screw, adjust the pin slightly and tighten before trying in your machine.  It didn't take me all that long to find a length that worked just fine!