The little sewing machine that could

I learned to sew on a Featherweight.  I was 3 years old when my grandmother died and her Featherweight came to my mother.  Then, when I was about 8 years old, my big sister Marilyn showed me how to make Barbie clothes on that Featherweight.  Thus began a lifelong love affair with sewing.   

In the late 50's my grandparents lived in a little mobile home in Palm Springs.  She needed a machine for mending and dressmaking, but didn't have space for a large machine.  My uncle was working in a Singer store and told her "you need a Featherweight."  She bought one second-hand and was thrilled...she could sew a turned-up hem on my grandfather's work trousers without doing it by hand! 

That is the wonder of the Featherweight.  It puts larger machines to shame in punching power, but is half their size and weight.   

But mainly, they are cute.  There is just something special about a Featherweight.  At first you think it's a toy and you just have to touch it.  And then you discover it's a real machine! 

These days, Grandmother's Featherweight lives with big sister Marilyn. I enjoy seeing it on display in her sewing room and remembering my first fumbling attempts at winding a bobbin.  I have my own Featherweight now. I smile every time I look at it.  

And very soon I will be teaching my niece to sew...on a Featherweight.

Happy Sewing!
Barbara