Creating a Custom Embroidered Case Cover for my Singer Featherweight 221

In a previous post I shared my excitement over purchasing a mini portable, 73 year old sewing machine (we’re calling it “Irene” after the original purchaser in 1950). This machine brings me such joy due to it’s mini -size cuteness, sewing function, and vintage aesthetic, that I bubbled up with delight thinking about how I should sew an adorable case cover for it. The black wood based Featherweight case is an important part of the entire collectable package of having an original antique like this, so I want to protect it.

I found this video by SewVeryEasy on Youtube to be an excellent resource to imagine how the case would come together. Her instructions are so simple and to the point. What I like about her case design, is that there is a zipper lining up with the actual case lid. Therefore, unlike a dust cover design, the cover can be left on without interfering with the function of accessing the sewing machine.

Next I went to Joann Fabrics and I chose my materials for the case. Unlike in the video, I chose to go a different route using black double sided quilted cotton, instead of foam lining. I also found some cute sewing themed fabric which featured black and gold in the color palette, among other colors I like. I felt the fabric would be perfect for a black and gold Singer sewing machine.

I wanted to make the bag design extra special and custom to the “Featherweight” theme, so I downloaded an adorable embroidery file of hands holding a featherweight inside of a heart. I purchased this from Jen’s Original Embroidery Designs. She has so many excellent embroidery designs to choose from, and I have seen some exquisite cases made from them (a few shown below).

While those designs are beautiful, I personally do not have an embroidery machine, and therefore I wanted to keep my costs to a minimum. I outsourced this part of my sewing project to a local embroidery business, Three Cord. Prior to purchasing the file, I checked with the embroidery business to make sure I had the right file type, and it worked out perfectly. Courtney at the Bowling Green, Ohio location was so helpful and friendly, and the price was far more reasonable that I expected!

Before I brought the fabric into the embroidery shop, I pinned the fabric to my case and marked off with masking tape where the embroidered design should be placed on the fabric so that when I sewed it, it would be centered.

Removing the Old Musty Featherweight Case Smell

While I was waiting for my embroidery design to be available for pick up, I worked on getting my featherweight case to smell better. Anyone in the featherweight loving community know the struggle of the case. It smells musty and old. I did some research and I was lucky enough to come across what I believe to be the best advice on the topic of diminishing the smell. Basically, back when the sewing machine case was made, the manufacturer used horse glue and between that and how dry the wood is, the box smells unpleasant like an old attic. The way to fix it is to take a clean cloth and totally coat quite liberally, the inside and outside, top and bottom of the case with a product called Howard Feed-n-Wax, and I found this at my local Ace hardware. The article stated to especially focus on spreading the product in seams and corners. The product recommends 20 minutes, or longer if needed. I did it for 24 hours. In that time the product fully absorbed into the box, despite the fact I coated it so heavily it was sticky with the orange scented product. So then I did another round for another 12 hours. After that, I wiped off every bit of the wax with several clean soft cloths to make sure no residue was left behind, The case looked so much more hydrated, and indeed, 80% of the terrible scent was gone.

Next, I used a case deodorizer from The Featherweight Shop. It was developed by an embalmer, and apparently can get odor out of anything.

Sewing the Case

Sewing the case cover, I simply followed the video instructions and it was very simple. The most difficult part was probably installing the zipper, but even that was not all that bad.

Below is the finished product, I think it turned out beautiful!

Featherweight 221