If you’re a Sewist, then you probably know what SMAD means, right??  Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, most of us have it.  We have Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder. Asking a women how many sewing machines she has, is like asking her age.  It isn’t done!!   I don’t look at it so much as a problem, more of a constant adding to my Sewing Arsenal.  A constant growing and nurturing of my sewing, crafting and creative passion.  A few months back, after reading countless pages on PatternReview about Vintage Singer Featherweights, I decided that I would HAVE to add one of those cute little babies to my “collection”.
 
So here goes the tale of how I acquired my first Featherweight (notice I wrote “1st”) and the important lesson I learned:
 
When you have SMAD you tend to browse CL on a regular basis and every now and then you hit the jackpot, or so you think you do.  I found this beautiful little black beauty Vintage Singer Featherweight…..check.  They include great pictures……check.  They include the serial #……check.  It comes with all the original accessories, case, and manual……check  AND they want a reasonable price…..check.  So I proceed to post my find on the message board at PatternReview and get lots of info from the collectors.  I got the stamp of approval or “blessing” from them and off I go to call the seller.  She was a wonderful lady getting ready to retire and she just wanted to get rid of the machine she’s had in storage for years.   The next day, unbeknownst to me, my husband went to meet the lady to collect my Featherweight!!  He was so excited all day long.  My husband shows up proudly with this perfect little black case in his hand.  I could hardly believe it when he set the machine down.  I couldn’t wait to get a look at her!!

Here’s where the story takes a sad turn.


As I took her out of her case, I realized something very important.  This was NOT THE MACHINE IN THE PHOTOS ON CL!!  I was angry at this point and felt mislead so my husband got on the phone with the seller to ask if he could return it since it wasn’t the machine in the photo.  She was  very nice and openly admitted that she just took a picture from the internet that looked like her’s and said yes that she would refund my husbands money!!  I was breathing a sigh of relief at this point and I learned a really valuable lesson too.  Always ask a seller if the photo’s are of the actual item being sold.  Since she was here, and this was the first FW I’d ever seen in person, and I wasn’t stuck with her anymore, I noticed how adorable she was.  No she didn’t have the older vintage decals or scrolly faceplate but she was in great condition.  Her case was in great shape too with no funky smells of mold that  I’d been warned about and her accessories were all there, even the original oil tin can and case key.  I also noticed that the newer Prism decals were in near perfect condition.  AND the best part of all, she’s sewed perfectly!!  After posting about my predicament and receiving support from others clearly stricken with SMAD, I decided to keep her.  My husband called the lady back to tell her we decided to keep her and she was angry.  I guess she went and did some research and found out that she could have gotten more for this FW.  She felt I took advantage of her by selling the machine to cheaply.  Isn’t that the kicker.  In the end, she felt I took advantage of her??  Right then and there we knew we made the right decision and this beautiful little feather was NOT going back to that nasty lady.  So together my hubby and I went to polish, wax and clean her to a shiny new finish.  I’m smitten with my little FW and am excited to create beautiful things with her!!

Actual photo of the front of my Featherweight.
 
DISCLAIMER:  THIS POST WAS NOT MEANT TO ENABLE ANYONE WITH SMAD INTO PURCHASING ANY SEWING MACHINE OF ANY BRAND OR ANY MODEL.