The botton hole attachment most often used with the Featherweight model 221/222 has the part number 160506 stamped on it.If you have the complete attachment there will be multiple drop-in "cams" that govern the size and style of button hole you are performing when you use the attachment.The embossed image on the back of the cam shows you the style and size of the button hole the cam produces.
There should also be a chrome metal plate about four inches long having a slotted blued steel strap sticking out one side of the chrome plate. There is a thumb screw that should be there as well. It is used to secure the feed-dog cover plate. This pate covers the feed-dogs of the machine while providing a smooth surface for the fabric to move around on. The Featherweight is not a zig-zag machine, therefore the fabric has to be the thing that moves. In use, don't try to direct the fabric or hold it down allowing the fabric to be free to move as directed by the attachment.
The attachment is secured to the machine just like the original presser foot, only a whole lot bigger. Unlike the standard foot the button hole attachment also has a lever that I call a "pickle-fork" that straddles the needle setting screw as the attachment is installed on the machine. As the needle bar travels up and down the screw drives the lever and powers the attachment.
Please practice the use of the attachment before you attack something for real. A secret with the attachment is that you sew around the button hole twice. The button hole will be better than many found on modern machines. Modern machines and their button hole function work like they learned from Arthur Murry. Step-side-step-side-step-step. The Singer attachment sews the botton hole in one flowing movement that you fall in love with. When done sewing the button hole you must cut the hole in the fabric for the button to go through still but I'm sure there is a app' for that!
Once you get fairly good with the attachment you might want to try adjusting the zig-zag stitch wider for the first time abound the hole and then reduce the width of the stitch for the next time around and change the color of the thread to a complementing thread color for a two-tone button hole that can be very striking.
But oiling your button hole attachment comes first. If metal touches metal inside the attachment and they move against each other, put a drop of oil on it.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Hot time in the 'ol house tonight
For years we've heard that our sewing machines should be unplugged if we leave our machines for an extended period of time. You just heard it again.And I don't mean just the Featherweights owners should. Almost every manufacturer of sewing machines today still tells owners to unplug their machines.
Many Featherweight owners will reach over and turn the switch located down low and to the right of the base of the machine off, and the light turns off. And that is all that that turned off. By turning the switch off you have not turned the machine off, just the light!
If the foot controller wonders out of adjustment after sixty years the controller can get hot. Very hot. The adjustment of the controller will be the subject of the my next blog, but for the time being please unplug your machine before you walk away for an extended period of time. Once and awhile feel your controller to be sure it is not getting hot. Room temperature is one thing, hot is different!
. Unplugging the machine is such a bother, but turning off a power strip isn't I plug a radio, my additional lighting and my machine into the same power strip. My Man-Cave is up stairs and all I have to do is cock an ear at the bottom of the steps to assure myself I have turned things off because I can't hear the radio.
Many Featherweight owners will reach over and turn the switch located down low and to the right of the base of the machine off, and the light turns off. And that is all that that turned off. By turning the switch off you have not turned the machine off, just the light!
If the foot controller wonders out of adjustment after sixty years the controller can get hot. Very hot. The adjustment of the controller will be the subject of the my next blog, but for the time being please unplug your machine before you walk away for an extended period of time. Once and awhile feel your controller to be sure it is not getting hot. Room temperature is one thing, hot is different!
. Unplugging the machine is such a bother, but turning off a power strip isn't I plug a radio, my additional lighting and my machine into the same power strip. My Man-Cave is up stairs and all I have to do is cock an ear at the bottom of the steps to assure myself I have turned things off because I can't hear the radio.
Trying to wind a bobbin? And the machine continues to run-on.......
To wind a bobbin you first turn the "stop-motion-wheel" to the left releasing the hand wheel to spin freely without all the rest of the machine continuing to turn. But, in the real world........
The hand wheel and the bushing it turns on is rarely oiled. The hand wheel needs only a drop of oil at the gap of the hand wheel and the flange of the bushing if it had been oiled routinely. If it hasn't been oiled since the machine left the Singer factory the hand wheel will need to be removed, the bearing surfaces cleaned, oiled and restored to be correct.
But there is a deeper problem that may be causing your machine to run-on. I have in the past done all the cleaning and oiling thing and some machines will still run-on. These machines have gotten perfectly "run-in". The gears and bearings and all that kinda' stuff have worked with each other long enough that the wearing-in of these parts has made these parts fit each other perfectly. Every thing turns with seemingly no resistance except that which is felt because the motor is being turned by its' connection through the drive belt.
If you suspect you are having a problem this way remove the motor drive belt and turn the machine using the hand wheel. If you can't really discern any resistance consider this cure.
Roll your machine over onto its' back on to a padded surface. The machine's hand wheel should be to the right for this conversation while you are looking at the drip pan on the machines' bottom. Exciting isn't it? Remove that drip pan and have a look within. There is a gear at one right end of the silver colored lower high-speed shaft that has the chrome hook assembly (where you snap the bobbin carrier with its' bobbin into) at the left end of the silver shaft. (The white/green model 221's do not have gears so use the rubber t gimbler drive belt hub for your point of reference). The shaft goes through the gear (hub) and into a "block" that is part of the machines' base casting. In the middle of the block is a screw, a set-screw. The bushing that supports the gear end of the shaft is held in place (kept from moving) within this block by this set-screw. If you over-tighten this set-screw CAREFULLY the tightening will deform the bushing slightly and induce some resistance to the turning of the lower shaft and therefore the whole machine.
This set-screw hasn't been turned in sixty years. Loosen the screw before you tighten it. Press firmly into the set screw and use a quality screw-driver that fits the screw slot properly. Ladies, you might need some help with this, after sixty years of waiting for a little attention the screw will not like to turn at first and will start to turn with a pop. Loosen the screw before you try to tighten the screw and maybe even remove and oil the screw or its' hole. When you tighten the screw keep turning/testing the hand wheel to feel for added resistance. As we tighten the screw we will be turning the screw tighter than is required to just hold the bushing in place. I am asking you to tighten it just enough that the bushing distorts slightly and pinches the shaft inducing a resistance to the entire machines being able to turn. It will take some effort to turn the screw enough to make a change but the screw will only turn about 1/32th of a turn at most.
Tighten and test for resistance of the machine to turning. If things get a bit too tight, loosen the screw and the shaft will respond accordingly. We do not want a lot of resistance to the turning of the machine, but there must be some. Properly adjusted the machine will turn easily but you can feel it turn rather than something that seems almost sloppy loose.
The hand wheel and the bushing it turns on is rarely oiled. The hand wheel needs only a drop of oil at the gap of the hand wheel and the flange of the bushing if it had been oiled routinely. If it hasn't been oiled since the machine left the Singer factory the hand wheel will need to be removed, the bearing surfaces cleaned, oiled and restored to be correct.
But there is a deeper problem that may be causing your machine to run-on. I have in the past done all the cleaning and oiling thing and some machines will still run-on. These machines have gotten perfectly "run-in". The gears and bearings and all that kinda' stuff have worked with each other long enough that the wearing-in of these parts has made these parts fit each other perfectly. Every thing turns with seemingly no resistance except that which is felt because the motor is being turned by its' connection through the drive belt.
If you suspect you are having a problem this way remove the motor drive belt and turn the machine using the hand wheel. If you can't really discern any resistance consider this cure.
Roll your machine over onto its' back on to a padded surface. The machine's hand wheel should be to the right for this conversation while you are looking at the drip pan on the machines' bottom. Exciting isn't it? Remove that drip pan and have a look within. There is a gear at one right end of the silver colored lower high-speed shaft that has the chrome hook assembly (where you snap the bobbin carrier with its' bobbin into) at the left end of the silver shaft. (The white/green model 221's do not have gears so use the rubber t gimbler drive belt hub for your point of reference). The shaft goes through the gear (hub) and into a "block" that is part of the machines' base casting. In the middle of the block is a screw, a set-screw. The bushing that supports the gear end of the shaft is held in place (kept from moving) within this block by this set-screw. If you over-tighten this set-screw CAREFULLY the tightening will deform the bushing slightly and induce some resistance to the turning of the lower shaft and therefore the whole machine.
This set-screw hasn't been turned in sixty years. Loosen the screw before you tighten it. Press firmly into the set screw and use a quality screw-driver that fits the screw slot properly. Ladies, you might need some help with this, after sixty years of waiting for a little attention the screw will not like to turn at first and will start to turn with a pop. Loosen the screw before you try to tighten the screw and maybe even remove and oil the screw or its' hole. When you tighten the screw keep turning/testing the hand wheel to feel for added resistance. As we tighten the screw we will be turning the screw tighter than is required to just hold the bushing in place. I am asking you to tighten it just enough that the bushing distorts slightly and pinches the shaft inducing a resistance to the entire machines being able to turn. It will take some effort to turn the screw enough to make a change but the screw will only turn about 1/32th of a turn at most.
Tighten and test for resistance of the machine to turning. If things get a bit too tight, loosen the screw and the shaft will respond accordingly. We do not want a lot of resistance to the turning of the machine, but there must be some. Properly adjusted the machine will turn easily but you can feel it turn rather than something that seems almost sloppy loose.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Getting a replacement belt for the White Featherweight 221
Determining the birth date of your Featherweight is fairly straight forward but the information you find can be a little misleading as well.
If you go to; singer.com you will find a "button" that will take you to "Singer support" and from there you go to "machine serial numbers". There were several variations of the serial numbers on Singer sewing machines over the years. The earliest serial numbers for Singer machines were simply six numbers. Then there came a single letter before six numbers, and close on its heals was the double letter with six that Featherweight owners relate to. Select the "Two Letter Prefixes ".
If the first letter of your Feather's serial number is an "A your machine was born in Elizabethport, New Jersey, USA. If your serial number is proceeded with an "E" your machine was born at the United Kingdom's Clydebank Scotland site. If you desire to print out all the pages of the Singer serial numbers, even just the single letter serial numbers, you will need a lot of paper in your printer before you begin. I went through a pile of paper and just the twos letter prefix numbers filled a one inch binder.
If you go to; singer.com you will find a "button" that will take you to "Singer support" and from there you go to "machine serial numbers". There were several variations of the serial numbers on Singer sewing machines over the years. The earliest serial numbers for Singer machines were simply six numbers. Then there came a single letter before six numbers, and close on its heals was the double letter with six that Featherweight owners relate to. Select the "Two Letter Prefixes ".
If the first letter of your Feather's serial number is an "A your machine was born in Elizabethport, New Jersey, USA. If your serial number is proceeded with an "E" your machine was born at the United Kingdom's Clydebank Scotland site. If you desire to print out all the pages of the Singer serial numbers, even just the single letter serial numbers, you will need a lot of paper in your printer before you begin. I went through a pile of paper and just the twos letter prefix numbers filled a one inch binder.
Another thing about the serial numbers. When one goes to the Singer web site they will find a very specific date written before the year of the machine's manufacture you are looking up. This date is not the machine's birth date. For production record keeping and production planning a "block" of numbers was set aside on this date shown and thousands of machines were built with numbers in a sequence taken from this block of numbers. The year stated is dead-on, the month/date will be somewhere between the date shown and the date of the next block of numbers having to be set about three months further down the road. The numbers after the prefix can give you a feel for a date by subtracting the first block of serial numbers form the next block of numbers and noting where your serial number fits into that string of numbers, but you cannot come up with an absolute date by day and hour, sorry.
Monday, April 11, 2011
White belts for white Featherweight sewing machines that are green (?)
It interests me the way the desire/need for products flows in and out like the tides. For years I have not had a single request about a white belt and now I have had three requests in two days, and I now have a well rehearsed answer.
They don't exist, sorry.
I've asked around for them a good deal over the years and I even asked about getting some made. I was told that if I would pay the up-front costs for 10,000 belts they would manufacture them for me. I told them I would get with my staff, we would think on it and get back with them. The infamous "be-back".
The white belt has not been manufactured in 50 years. The demand for the white belt does not justify the expense of gearing up to produce them (even though I know of several who would stand in line for a week in January for the store to open). A supply of originals was found about 10 years ago, in the back of an obscure storeroom, and they sold instantly. They sold to people who pondered later why they so urgently needed a 40 year old rotting piece of rubber covered with white cloth.
New white belts do not exist any longer I fear. You will have to settle for a black belt. May I caution you that there is a cogged vinyl belt that isn't white and isn't much good in my opinion. These clear to light tan colored belts are difficult to adjust and I don't think they look good on a machine of any color.
I have honestly looked pretty hard to find white belts for myself to no avail. The market for black motor belts is strong because there were many more black machines manufactured.
Black is basic and goes with most everything I have been told.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Times, they are changin'
Thread has changed over the years since our Featherweights were born. I love many of the new threads and I'm not here to say I have a problem with them, but your Featherweight might.
Several times this last month I have had people call asking "what is wrong with their Featherweight? The stitch in the fabric is all loopy and loose..........."
The Featherweight was created at a time when 50 weight thread was the norm. Several times recently I have had people having problems with their machines and the common denominator was that they were using the "new" fine threads that are becoming quite popular. I don't want to name brand-names because it isn't about any one manufacturer or brand, it's the weight (physical size) of the thread that is causing a problem.
If you are not happy with your machines stitch or the thread tension try changing to a thread of heavier weight.
Several times this last month I have had people call asking "what is wrong with their Featherweight? The stitch in the fabric is all loopy and loose..........."
The Featherweight was created at a time when 50 weight thread was the norm. Several times recently I have had people having problems with their machines and the common denominator was that they were using the "new" fine threads that are becoming quite popular. I don't want to name brand-names because it isn't about any one manufacturer or brand, it's the weight (physical size) of the thread that is causing a problem.
If you are not happy with your machines stitch or the thread tension try changing to a thread of heavier weight.
Don't replace your bobbin case too quickly!
In the years that I have been working with Featherweights I've noticed that problems with Feathers seem to happen in clusters. I don't find a problem but what the problem does not repeat itself, repeatedly, within days. Case in point: a bobbin case not adjusting as it should. If yours seems to have but one setting; loose, it might seem like it is "time for a replacement bobbin case", Oh bother!
How you remove the thread from your bobbin case might determine how you will spend your next $75.00. If you function like I did not so long ago you probably remove your bobbin from the bobbin case to change thread by dumping the bobbin in your hand and pulling the thread out of the case from inside, just jerking on the bobbin and dragging the thread out screaming!. (I'm trying to make it sound like a rude thing, did it work?) But we are not going to do that any more, are we?
Instead let the bobbin drop gently into your cupped hand and cut the thread with your best gold plated (titanium bladed) stork scissors you keep warm in a velvet lined basket beside your Featherweight.
Now, pull the thread out of the bobbin case from the outside which is pulling the thread out from the case in the normal direction the thread would travel.
Why? The bobbin case is designed for the thread to pass through it one way. That's why there are no options as to how to install the bobbin case even though some have tried. If thread is pulled backwards through the bobbin case (as in; jerked removed from the inside) the little metal strap on the outside of the bobbin case (that is the tension spring) will "shave" the lint from the thread making its own lint if there wasn't any. This "free-at-last" lint collection builds up under the open end of the strap spring and it can have enough body (mass) to hold the spring's tip up and off of the side of the bobbin case allowing the thread to just pull through this tension device without resistance (tension). It will be held up and off by the tiniest amount and it will not be easy to see unless you really look.
Cure? Stop pulling the thread the wrong way. If you already have a zero tension case; remove the tension adjusting screw (over a towel!!!) and loosen the screw at the end of the strap about one turn to loosen the strap. Using a flat tooth-pick, inset the flat end of the tooth-pick under the strap about where the tension screw was and wipe sideways to the tip of the spring where the thread comes out. The pellet of lint that comes out will be tiny and you'll think that I am pulling your leg, but April-fools Day was yesterday and I'm over it.
Put things back together, reset the tension and enjoy. It is possible you might have to remove both screws to clean out completely from under the strap tension spring. Please work over a towel to keep from loosing one of the screws.
How you remove the thread from your bobbin case might determine how you will spend your next $75.00. If you function like I did not so long ago you probably remove your bobbin from the bobbin case to change thread by dumping the bobbin in your hand and pulling the thread out of the case from inside, just jerking on the bobbin and dragging the thread out screaming!. (I'm trying to make it sound like a rude thing, did it work?) But we are not going to do that any more, are we?
Instead let the bobbin drop gently into your cupped hand and cut the thread with your best gold plated (titanium bladed) stork scissors you keep warm in a velvet lined basket beside your Featherweight.
Now, pull the thread out of the bobbin case from the outside which is pulling the thread out from the case in the normal direction the thread would travel.
Why? The bobbin case is designed for the thread to pass through it one way. That's why there are no options as to how to install the bobbin case even though some have tried. If thread is pulled backwards through the bobbin case (as in; jerked removed from the inside) the little metal strap on the outside of the bobbin case (that is the tension spring) will "shave" the lint from the thread making its own lint if there wasn't any. This "free-at-last" lint collection builds up under the open end of the strap spring and it can have enough body (mass) to hold the spring's tip up and off of the side of the bobbin case allowing the thread to just pull through this tension device without resistance (tension). It will be held up and off by the tiniest amount and it will not be easy to see unless you really look.
Cure? Stop pulling the thread the wrong way. If you already have a zero tension case; remove the tension adjusting screw (over a towel!!!) and loosen the screw at the end of the strap about one turn to loosen the strap. Using a flat tooth-pick, inset the flat end of the tooth-pick under the strap about where the tension screw was and wipe sideways to the tip of the spring where the thread comes out. The pellet of lint that comes out will be tiny and you'll think that I am pulling your leg, but April-fools Day was yesterday and I'm over it.
Put things back together, reset the tension and enjoy. It is possible you might have to remove both screws to clean out completely from under the strap tension spring. Please work over a towel to keep from loosing one of the screws.
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