[with love Heidi]

I think there’s a attachment you can get to make an old featherweight zigzag, here’s a link http://www.april1930s.com/html/singer_adjustable_zigzag_attac.html

Can you turn the cuffs insideout and sew them up the other way?

[piercenb]

I’ve seen those nifty attachments for buttonholes and zig zag featherweights. So amazing. Mechanical designers were geniuses back then, I think. 🙂 I’m not sure that it would suit all of my needs though, for applique and mending. And I’ve looked into the attachments and some said that they begin to have problems moving the fabric when sewing through a lot of thickness. And although I can sew little cuffs and hem pants without a free arm by sewing from the inside out, it is a lot harder than slipping it over the free arm of my old, now busted free arm sewing machine. I’m about to have my fifth baby (yeah for us!) and my oldest is only six, so I really have limited time and emotional energy for sewing. Ease and reliability are high priorities, as if it’s a struggle or time consuming, it’s just not worth it for me right now. Hence why I’m undecided on a direction for another machine. A lot of money (Bernina 1008!!) or old and far less expensive, though fewer features. Storage space is a problem too, I really only have room for one machine accessible at a time, so the featherweight and another one isn’t really an option. I have to be able to sit and get going in my 30 minute nap window. No time for setting up and tearing down. sigh . . . .

Thanks for your input though. Any other ideas?

[KarenK]

I did all of those tasks with ease on a Singer 301a for 7 years. The attachments are easy to use and like the 221, it has way more guts than newer machines. I very recently replaced it with a Bernina 165 I bought on Craigslist and I love the Bernina but my old Singer is mechanically superior in many ways.

Have you considered a Janome from a dealer? I hear they are very nice.

[with love Heidi]

I keep looking at Pfaff new small/travel machine the Passport 2.0. I haven’t seen it in person and I don’t even know If it will be in Australia but It seems to have a lot of what I’m looking for.

http://www.pfaff.com/mediafiles/perfection-starts-here/passport.php?l=us

I would also (if you can) go in and try some machines. I found one the shop reccomended I had already used at work and hated it, but I wouldn’t know if I had not tried it.