Black box mystery

      A while back, I hinted when I bought the magical bookcase there was a black box on the floor next to it. This was the box.

A lot of you know what this is.
I can recognize it across a football field.

     I did polish it up with black shoe polish and polished the hinges before I took the photo, but still, it is pretty remarkable. You can imagine my excited anticipation when I was opening the lid. What would I find and in what condition?
    Inside was a very lovely Singer 221- the Featherweight. All the attachments. I have fixed and cleaned many of these machines for people (Sew much fun!), so I can figure out the condition pretty quickly. I came back to the store with a cord and footcontroller from one of my machines to put it through the paces before I bought it to make sure it ran well. It even had the keys for the case!!
     The Featherweight is a kind of cult sewing machine. On the positive side, it sews an absolutely perfect straight stitch due to the fine machining and rotary bobbin. It is lightweight and very simple to operate. It is a tough machine- not finicky or tempermental. They are so easily fixable and parts are easy to come by. On the downside, it has a tiny motor and is not fast, although perfect for piecing that requires slow precision like curves or paper piecing. Its light bulb must be replaced by an LED so you don't burn your wrist while sewing. Some people do not realize they can't yank the threads at the end and so bury a broken thread piece in the precision hook mechanism and blame the machine. It is so darn cute and a workhorse, what else would have lasted so many years?

     And there you have over a 70 year old machine that works like the day it was made, creating quilts and piecing memories. When I examined it, I saw it needed new cords as the flat aluminum wiring cords it had are dangerous. I ordered from the magnificent Singer-Featherweight shop, changed the cords, changed the bulb, cleaned and polished the paint and we are ready to roll with precision piecing! Black box mystery solved!