mpeters1200

Ok...little back history here. I've been away from the board about a year or so as hubby had surgery and sometimes life gets in the way. My mother has I think a 1946 Featherweight. I haven't ran the serial number in a long, long time, but it's from the 40's somewhere. Mom died after an extremely long illness in 2007. My father died in 2000 and he was in charge of her affairs then, but I rescued mom's machine from the trash dumpster. My sister was trying to purge the house of everything she didn't want to look at anymore. Anyway, I knew mom's machine was something I wanted to have even though I had never sewn a stitch before. I didn't really have any interest then either, I just wanted the item that mom made all our clothes on.

Fast forward to 2006 -- I had been bitten by the quilting bug via my MIL. On a visit up north, she looked at mom's machine and couldn't believe it was in such poor shape. Little did she know. Anyway, it jammed up every time the wheel turned and the bobbin casing was missing entirely. I had joined a little quilt club and one of the members does all her piecing on her featherweight. She looked at it and pulled a considerable amount of fabric all ripped up from the underside of it. It didn't jam up anymore. She said the bobbin case had to be replaced and it needed a good cleaning.

Fast forward to 2011 - I managed to find mom's bobbin case. I still have no idea how it got in that particular place, but it did and it was found. I had started reading everything I could about vintage machines after I bought a Singer 66 to quilt on. I was interested in restoring mom's machine but didn't really know where to start.

2013-- Mom's machine is in her case on top of my sewing table that I have to move every time I want to work on something. I want to keep in fresh in my mind that she needs some TLC. I've watched videos and trolled this site and I keep getting confused because 1 - the videos I've watched are vintage machines, but not featherweights and 2- the featherweight threads I've followed on here don't show the spots that mom's needs work on.

So now I post this help request. I need to see if i can find a replacement thread spool holder thing. It's supposed to have a hole on each end where a screw would fit to keep it on. One of the holes broke off so you can just slide it forward and back. If you slide it and look down in there it's all gunky. Is that part something I can find somewhere and purchase?

Also, if you unscrew the bottom part of the machine and take all that stuff out, it's totally gunky down there too. All the grease or oil or whatever is all balled up down there. There's a thing, oil pan maybe?, that sits between the bottom of the machine and the thing you have to unscrew and take off the bottom of the machine. It's been shredded in spots and looks like it needs to be replaced. I don't know what the name of the part is to try a google search to see if I can replace it.

A lovely gal on here suggested at one time that I pick up a FW somewhere and play with cleaning it up before touching mom's machine. That's a great idea. I've been trolling Craigslist for 2 years and this area has an absolute CRAP TON of vintage machines available and I found 2 FW's, but both were in good condition and their owners are on some type of drugs cause they were trying to sell them for 900.00. Sheesh that's a lot of money!

Do you all have any suggestions? I found tri-flow oil at the hardware store and I'd like to start researching everything I can so maybe when NEXT spring comes, I can hang out in hubby's garage and get her restored. This machine was mom's baby and since it doesn't jam up or have any other problems of any kind, I'd really like to get her working. She just needs a SERIOUS cleaning and I have no clue how to do it.

If you all need pictures, let me know and I'll post some.

Thanks in advance for your help. I now own 2 vintage machines, the 66 and moms and I set a goal if I can get moms working, then I'll treat myself to a 15 cause that's the only other vintage machine - so far - I'd like to get.

Thanks,


Melissa

nanna-up-north

Well, it sounds like you've come to the right place. Cleaning up machines is what we do..... many are better at it than I. But, from what you say, I don't think the job will be real tough. You might want to watch muv's video about cleaning vintage machines in the vintage section of QB. Get all that gunk off the machine and then oil and grease it. I oil and grease mine every couple of weeks if I'm using it a lot. It will just hum so sweetly when it's gotten its oil bath. You can download a manual for the FW online for free. Good luck and keep us posted.

TinkerQuilts

I can't help much with restoring, but there are lots of board members here who can direct you to some great links on how to do it (like Muv's). I have a 15-31 (a $20 garage sale find) that I've cleaned up, and I need to get to work on Gramma's 66 treadle (it's in bad shape like your featherweight). And I have Aunt Sandi's featherweight that is in great condition.
Anyway Good Luck and have fun with it!

J Miller

Melissa,

Cleaning the machine is pretty straight forward. You need to get the build up of gunk off the machine.
To do this you can start with sewing machine oil and see how much that cleans off. After that I use either / and Hoppe's #9 gun cleaning solvent and denatured alcohol. Lots of q-tips, cotton balls, small tooth brushes and time. Set aside lots of time.
Don't get in any hurry and don't use any harsh chemicals on the paint. What's left of the decals will be ruined.

For parts here are several on line sources:

{ http://www.thequiltgal.com/index.htm } I believe the quilt gal is a member here.
{ http://www.shop.sew-classic.com/ }
{ http://pages.suddenlink.net/joyof301s/glenn.htm }
{ http://sewingmachine221sale.bizland....re/page18.html }
{ http://www.april1930s.com/index.html }

I'm sure there are more, but these came up in my bookmarks.

I would suggest Tri-Flow oil and grease for the machine after you get it cleaned out, and Singer Lube (in the tube) only for the motor. These can be had at Sew-Classic.

Joe

TinkerQuilts

I knew you would come thru Joe!

nanna-up-north

Yep. Joe to the rescue once again. You always come up with the web sites that my old brain just won't remember. I guess I should bookmark them like you.

mpeters1200

So the machine has to be cleaned with sewing machine oil not tri-flo? What can I use to run down the height of the machine from underneath the broken spool holder thing? I really don't know what Hoppe's #9 gun cleaning solvent and denatured alcohol are. I'm going to go check out the links. I need to bookmark Muv's videos too cause I can never find them when I want them.

mpeters1200

Already learned a couple things. Felt drip pad and spool pin both need replaced. One very cheap and the other not too expensive. Woo Hoo! So the parts are still available. Good. Now to go youtube search for more of muv's videos.

Caroline S

Melissa, for the oil bath plain old sewing machine oil works fine. Use the Triflow for oiling. I am sure that we all would like to see before and after pictures of your Featherweight experience. It is wonderful that you saved her from the dumpster.

nanna-up-north

Melissa,

You don't have to go search on utube. Muv's videos are listed here on QB. Just go to the vintage section and click on the 'how to clean and use vintage machines'.... it's one of the first post headings. Open that post and, Miriam has them listed right there. All you need to do is click on the one you want to watch.