Singer Featherweight II 117 Sewing Machine Review

Honestly, for someone wanting to learn to sew, DO NOT purchase an inexpensive machine by any brand is my advice. You will get a much better value to purchase an older vintage machine with metal gears which you can pick up at yard sales, flea markets, even ebay for around $10-50. You could even spend $100-200 or more buying the more expensive vintage machines off ebay and be completely satisfied with how the machine sews. I always tell people this when they want to know about purchasing a machine for a new sewer. The thing is, you can only work up to the capacity of your equipment, and as a new sewer, the person will get extremely frustrated with a pile of junk and give up sewing entirely! We don't want that to happen! But you also want to start the person on something simple enough for them to learn to use easily, so I would recommend spending $200-300 and purchasing an original Featherweight rather than this one, or again, spend much less and get an old Kenmore (can be purchased cheaply due to the name) which are very great quality older machines, very reliable (though often heavy), and sew well. One can even find good older models which have freearms and zig-zag stitching for a lesser price than this Featherweight II costs new. I have worked on one of these before, and I don't find it to be a good machine at all. Singer is not at all what they used to be, but older Singers are awesome!

For the past 30 years, those running Singer have been gradually eating up decades of good reputation. I don't know of a single serious sewer in my acquaintance who even looks at Singer machines for purchase now. So sad--

had heard it was not up to par

Thank you for the review because i teach children how to sew ,and when they have learned the first thing parent's do to reward them is by buying them a brand new sewing machine. But first they ask me for advise. I will pass on this website first. Thanks everyone you have save alot of children from future heartbreak.

Unfortunatelly I didn't know that Singer isn't anymore what it used to be when I bought my machine 3 years ago. I had the same problem Linda did. Bought the machine 3 years ago and payed almost as much for repairs as the cost of the machine. Lastely the knob that changes the stitches broke and they can't fix it anymore.

I have a Featherweight II as well. The machine is too light - it slides on my table. And it is too small to sew comfortly. It is hard to tune (upper and lower thread tension), and the bobbin holder tends to move from its position (and it makes long loops on the under side of your seam). But if it is tuned in the workshop and the bobbin holder is in place, it sews quite normally. Its capabilities are not bad - it makes nice-looking seams, and it has quite good list of them. Nevertheless - I am going to abandon this machine as soon as I spare enough to buy something more manageable.

I too own a Featherweight II. I think I have had it now for over 2 years. Now that you mention it, the thread does jam up from time to time. I have to play with it awhile and then it frees up. I have had a Singer Futura since 1976 and never had a bit of problem with it. That's why I still have it. I'll pay closer attention to the Featherweight II. I use this with our youth group at church. We are teaching them to make simple patchwork quilts that are given to the sick or newborns. I thought they weren't threading it right. It also seems that the needle and bobbin casing are set back a little farther than normal.

Something I noticed on the two 132s we bought for DH DDs (say that 3 times fast) is that the top and bobbin threads have to be helds behind the machine at the start of a seam otherwise the thread bunches. I don't have that problem with my other Singers though.

Sorry, that you are having so much trouble with your machine. Can you take it back and tell them it does not work!

I don't know if this is the same as my 132 featherweight? Which I find satisfactory...