Saturday, January 8, 2011

A new to me singer featherweight

 Hey there folks! Look what arrived at my house late last night? What a sweet little Singer Featherweight! I have been on the hunt for one of these little gems for ages. I know you can get them on Ebay....but I didn't really want to go that route. I have bid and bid only to be outbid by robots. I wanted to stumble on one at an antique shop or yard sale. I wanted the adventure of finding one myself. Well...."Caroline" came to me via my wonderful Uncle Terry and Aunt Caroline. I shall tell you the story if you like.

You see my mom joined me on my hunt for this sweet little singer after attending Gwen Marston's Beaver Island Quilt retreat. Most of the quilters at the retreat were sewing away on these little sewing machines. They all were just purring away. I have an old machine (the Necchi above) but it sounds more like an M60 machine gun than a content cat. As a side note my husband likes it when I drag that beast out because he says it reminds him of his enlisted days when he was a saw gunner. Ahh....memory lane. I don't know about you, but trying to sew with a machine gun is not a very relaxing thing.

So, back to the Featherweight Hunt. My mom and dad stopped at every antique mall from Texas back to North Carolina. Or they were planning to until they were chatting with my Aunt Helen on their cross country journey and mom mentioned to her what they were looking for. Just so happened that Helen had on in her closet. It had been there for 30 years and mom was welcome to it. So bamm! Mom and dad changed course and picked up her Featherweight in Florida.

Well, I was still on the hunt. I asked mom to mention my quest to my uncle Terry and Aunt Caroline. Their house looks like a history museum. Amazing finds just drop in his lap. I knew if anyone could find a featherweight it would be Them. Well sir, they were out looking through some antique shops with friends and mentioned what they were looking for and low and behold! Beth had her mother's. And I was welcome to it! Yippee!!!
 So here she is, finally. I love her already. Beth's father was in the Air Force and her mother made all her clothes growing up on this little machine. It has been all over the world, and will continue it's journey with me. Not only that but after I have her serviced, cleaned and I am pretty sure she needs a new belt, she will be teaching other Air Force wives to quilt. Isn't it funny how stuff works out?

 She is a tiny little thing, especially compared to my Big Bernina.

She is so much lighter than my Necchi, I can't wait to find another quilt retreat for mom and I to attend. "Caroline" (I named her for my Aunt) will be so much easier to travel with than my little Bernina.

OK, I need to go get ready to take my Emma to a doctor appointment. Have a great Friday! Oh and this was my big news. The featherweight, not a long arm. I have heaps of room for little singers, but none at all for a long arm. Much to my sadness. I would love to have one. I do have 3 quilts all stacked and ready to quilt, but I will be doing them on my Bernina 820.

Thank you so much Terry and Caroline! Thank you Beth, for trusting me with your mother's sewing machine. She couldn't have landed in a better home. I love her already. She will be on her way to the Singer repairman this afternoon.


xo,
Tia

2 comments:

Brenda said...

lovely, lovely, lovely. I have one too -- it's the 222K with a free arm and feed dogs that drop so technically, one could free motion quilt on it, but it's a bit small for that. Tia, could you reply back because I have a little accessory for you new FW that I want to send you and I need your address.

Katie said...

Congratulations! Join the Featherweight Yahoo Group for anything you might want to know about maintaining your machine. It's fun chatting to the experts. I know you're going to love sewing on it!

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