My Lil' Sweety.

My favorite sewing machine, of the three hand me down machines I own, is by far, my cute little Singer 221. I call her Sweety. It isn't one of the really old 221's. According to the Singer Serial Number page, http://singerco.com/support/serial_numbers.html, Sweety was manufactured in 1957 in Clydebank, Scotland, bought first hand by my mother, and used continually ever since.

Sweety has been a wonderful machine. I first sewed clean through my right pointer finger when I was about 6 years old, shed a tear, picked out the stitches and kept right on going. My daughter started on Sweety when she was 6 as well, with similar results. She says Sweety is her machine. I predict a bit of a tussle when she heads off to college.

Sweety sews forward, and get this, backward! Yup, I know, she's amazing. She came with a box of attachments that absolutely terrified me as a child, truely the stuff of nightmares, but I have learned to love,... a few of them. Some still make me a bit queasy, andso I just leave them in their box.

I have other machines, one actually zig zags, and another has a button hole attachment, but Sweety is my workhorse. She is, however, after 50 years of abuse by impatient 8 year olds, hormonal teenagers and over worked mothers, a bit testy herself. She runs on oil and grease. She'll let you know when she isn't happy too, in no uncertain terms. Breaks the thread every three inches until you get the message. And she likes her needles sharp and dead straight.

But now, carefully oiled and greased, Sweety is happy again. I'm off to finish K's 1850's Sun bonnet just in time for next weekends Textiles Festival at Burritt on the Mountain, http://www.burrittmuseum.org/. Should be fun. Hotter than heck, but loads of fun.