New baby

No, definitely not that kind.

I found a 1938 1940 Singer Featherweight on Craig's List for a very reasonable price.  (I looked up the serial number, and she's a couple of years younger than the seller thought.) These little machines are extremely popular among quilters for doing patchwork because they fit almost anywhere and they can sew through almost anything. She looks like she's in really good condition, and the price was good enough that I'll still have a deal if I have to have her serviced.

Isn't she cute?

Now I can sew while I embroider with my Viking Ruby. I'm looking foward to making the rest of my Farmer's Wife quilt using this little beauty. It seems appropriate. These machines were introduced a decade after the farmer's wives wrote the letters that the Farmer's Wife sampler quilt is based on, but it's likely that some of those women eventually owned a Featherweight.

She came with the original manual, screwdrivers, and (appropriately) two of each foot. I even got the original oil can and tube of lubricant.

The orange scissors in the picture below should give you a sense of scale. This little beauty is a fraction of the size of a normal antique Singer. The scissors are normal Fiskars shears, and the cutting mat you see reflected in the machine is a 1" grid. She's about 16" long and 9" tall.

I'm so excited!

I just did a search to find out how much these machines cost around 1940, and I found that they were about $99. I also found all kinds of fascinating info about sewing machines. I didn't realize that sewing machines weren't widely available or affordable until after the Victorian era. It was a major purchase (as a good machine still is today) and machines were valuable possessions that were handed down through families.

Some of that attitude persisted through my grandmother and mother's generation, but I view my machine much like I would a computer. I assume it will become obsolete in a few years and I'll want an upgrade. It's a different world.