Common Featherweight Problem

Troubleshooting Singer Featherweight 221 Sewing Machine Problem

Apr 15, 2008

Owners of the Singer Featherweight 221 Sewing Machine often experience the frustrating, but easy to fix problem, of thread bunching up between fabric and feed dogs.

New owners of the vintage Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine, model 221, are usually very pleased with their purchase, and delighted with how well the machine sews until the first time they clean it. This usually involves removing the throat plate to clean out lint, bits of thread, and dust that have accumulated under the feed dogs, and around the stitch-forming mechanism. This is where the problem begins.

Thread Balls Up on the Underside of the Fabric

Removing lint and dust is a good idea, but improperly replacing the throat plate will create a very frustrating problem. Suddenly the machine will not work properly. Instead of forming nice even stitches, the thread balls up on the underside of the fabric and the top thread is yanked unevenly off the spool. Any stitches that do form are loose and uneven. As alarming as this is, nothing is broken, and the problem can be easily taken care of in a few minutes.

First Examine the Throat Plate

Remove the two screws that hold the chromed throat plate in place on the base of the machine, and lift the plate off the machine. With the plate removed, the bobbin housing and shuttle that forms the stitches are visible. Turn the throat plate over and carefully examine it. Note that on the underside of the plate there are two metal blocks on either side of the hole where the needle passes through when sewing. These small metal blocks are the key to solving the problem.

Examine the Stitch Forming Mechanism

Next look carefully at the chrome mechanism where the bobbin and bobbin case are located. This mechanism has an outer section with a ring that spins fairly freely. This ring has a short metal finger extending from it. (See illustration below) The finger can be rotated like the hands of a clock.

Fixing the Problem

To get the Featherweight sewing once a gain, the metal finger must be positioned between the two blocks on the underside of the throat plate. To do this, lay the throat plate in place on the base of the machine, spin the metal finger around so that it is positioned at twelve o’clock, and rests between the two small metal blocks attached to the underside of the throat plate. When the finger is in place, replace the throat plate screws, making sure the finger stays positioned while the screws are tightened.