ThayerRags

Not involving children sewing, but I bought a finger guard and put it on our Singer 20U33 industrial machine that my wife and I use at the shop. It only took a couple of days and it was off of there! It was always in the way for our type of sewing. We use that machine almost exclusively for hemming jeans, so we’re constantly changing thread colors and doing short runs. Lots of needle threading! Once in a while we put in a zipper with it. A finger guard may be more practical for production work with long runs and fast sewing, or for children safety.

I love handcranks, and have my 1910 Singer 28K2 HC threaded up with nylon upholstery thread (needle not threaded) and setting next to my recliner. I use it on my lap to repair a stuffed frog that my dog and I play with when it gets ripped. I don't have a case top for it, and most of the time it just sets there on top of a treadle. I like to give the crank a good spin and see if I can get the handle to stop at a certain place in the rotation. It’s fun, and keeps the machine limbered up ready to sew. It doesn’t take much to entertain me.

CD in Oklahoma

miriam

Yes the finger guards are a PITB when you need to thread the machine. We do want kids to learn to sew.

Redsquirrel

This is one of the reasons I love the handcrank, I use mine to repair my dogs stuffys as well. I would like a newer 99k that has reverse though, as you can't turn and sew back along the stitch line for stuffed toys. Reverse would be nice.