How to Thread a Singer Portable Antique Machine

Singer antique portable machines are easy to thread.

The Singer Company has made sewing machines since 1851 and introduced the first portable sewing machines into the market. These sturdy machines, constructed from cast iron and all-steel parts, can last for many years with proper maintenance. There are several models of these machines, such as the Featherweight 221, and all of them have a standard electric 110-volt power cord and are strong enough to sew through multiple layers of even heavy fabrics, such as denim. Threading a Singer antique portable is a lot like threading a sewing machine made recently and only takes a short time.

Instructions

1. Raise the silver latch on the rear of the machine just behind the needle to pull up the presser foot. Turn the flywheel, found on the top right side of your antique portable machine, to the back so that the needle is as high as it can be. Position the thread spool on the spool pin found on the upper top right of the antique portable machine, so that it unwinds to the left, which is counterclockwise.

2. Guide the thread tail to the left and just a bit towards you while feeding it in the front u-shaped hook on the top left of the machine. Pull the thread through the hook from right to left. Continue pulling it left and to the back and feed the thread through the remaining u-shaped hook, located towards the back left side of the front hook, but pulling the thread from left to right this time.

3. Pull the thread left and down the front of the machine. Find the tension disc knob, which is on the front of the machine above the needle bar, and is a nickel-sized circle with two silver discs behind it. Pull the thread to the back of the tension knob and place it under the knob between the two silver discs, from the right of the machine to the left. Hook the thread on the small eyelet on the front side of the tension disc.

4. Pull the thread straight up and feed the thread through the hole in the threader bar, located directly on top of the tension disc. Load the thread from right to left, pulling the thread to the left. The thread should pull easily with a slight amount of constant tension.

5. Locate the hook on the front bottom left of the machine and pull the thread through from top to bottom. Locate the thread guide, which is directly above the needle, and feed the thread through the thread guide from top to bottom. Continue pulling the thread down and feed it through the eye of the needle, pulling it from left to right and leaving a tail of at least eight inches.

References

• Singer Featherweight: Manual