RARE White Singer 221 Featherweight Sewing Machine 1959

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RARE White Singer 221 Featherweight Sewing Machine 1959 White Singer 221 Featherweight Sewing Machine serial number LV980357 which as best I could tell from the Singer Serial Number website dates it to 1959. It comes with the original power foot pedal, the original model 221 manual and green carrying case. We did not sew with it but it appears to be in fine working order as tested. Very good solid complete machine - check my photos. It had been stored in a closet of a neighbor's estate for many years - just needs normal cleaning and oiling guaranteed. There are a few accessories in the bottom of the case and the case still has the original divider board. The machine has no damage or repairs, the carrying case has some normal wear and the top handle is fine and firmly attached. Any color featherweight other than black is much harder to find. We are offering this machine at NO RESERVE and the auction starts at just 95 cents. A brief history of the Singer Featherweight Although the Featherweight clearly owes much to the earlier Standard Sewhandy portable, it is probably not true to say that the Singer company bought out Standard just to get its hands on the Sewhandy design. In fact, when Standard went to the wall, the Osaan company picked up the pieces before selling on to Singer . It would be difficult to deny, however, that the Sewhandy wasn not the inspiration for the Featherweight . The Featherweight has the same unitary design with the "works" hidden in a deepened base, and built to sell first and foremost as a portable. But the improvements that Singer built into the new Featherweight made it succeed where the Sewhandy had failed to rescue Standard. The new machine had aluminium base and arm components drastically reducing the weight (the Sewhandy had a cast-iron arm), a flip-up extension table that increased the work area and an easily-selected reverse feature. Maintenance was made easier with a single thumb screw releasing the bottom pan for lubrication (the Sewhandy had a series of screws holding a hefty wooden base). The new design was introduced to the public in 1933 at the Chicago World's Fair. The improved model, which followed three years later, had a re-worked bobbin case and a numbered dial which took the guesswork out of tension setting. Production during WW2 was severely limited and some machines made during this period had blacken parts instead of chrome and others a crinkle-finish paint work. For details of these machines see crinkle and blackside Featherweights Production of the 221 started in the UK at what was then Singer's largest factory in 1949. Six years later production started on the ultimate Featherweight , the 222 Freearm, and then the white/green model which was made in very limited numbers until 1964 . Tan/beige machines were also produced in Scotland and at the Canadian plant. White /Green Machines I'm not going to get into whether the last-of-the-line 221s is white or green. Singer called the paint work Pale Turquoise. Suffice to say, look at one on a green background and it's white but on a white background it looks green. The machine , with its toothed belt drive, was a high-tech upgrade to the standard black model. And take no notice of the gloom merchants, I've never known a belt wear, let alone brake. It's lighter and quieter than a black model –– and relatively few were made. Please note that Singer simply painted over a normal black motor for these models. The plastic housing did not provide a great paint key and a degree of paint chipping on the motor housing is to be expected . read more

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