Finding a vintage sewing machine for my niece this Christmas! (Singer Fashion Mate 237)
This Christmas season, I have been on the hunt for a good vintage sewing machine. Why, you might ask?
Well, this past Thanksgiving, my niece and I spent hours sewing together. The problem? She has one of those dinky little plastic machines. While, yes, these are so much better than nothing, I immediately thought, “Hmm, wouldn’t a vintage sewing machine be the perfect present for her this Christmas?”
Needless to say, I am a lover of antique and vintage machines (as this post about my great-grandmother’s Singer Featherweight will likely attest), so I was quite excited to hunt for one. And I am SO thrilled with what I finally found for her!
This post will also function as a review of the same machine: The Singer Fashion Mate 237.
Read on and I’ll tell you guys all about it!
Not all vintage machines are created equal
Unfortunately, something that I ended up discovering on this sewing machine hunt was the fact that not all vintage machines were 100% quality-made. While many of them are built to last probably hundreds of years (the ones I have surely were!), there can be little issues that render a machine totally useless!
In fact, my niece’s dad (my brother-in-law) already had a vintage machine which was passed down to him. He hadn’t used it in a while and said it didn’t run. I took a look at it, hoping all it needed was some oil or even just a new motor. Nope.
Tragically for this machine, the manufacturers used ONE – I repeat, ONE – plastic gear and, of course, that one gear was cracked. It was causing the entire machine to resist motion every time the crack passed through the adjacent gear.
This is why plastic sucks, guys, and why more modern machines just aren’t made to last!
Funny enough, my vintage machine (pictured below) is almost identical to my brother-in-law’s, but the same gear in mine is metal. So no problems.
That means that machines similar to this can be a hit or miss on eBay, since it is really hard to see this particular gear in pictures! (These machines are the off-brand Japanese ones. The actual brand names you see on their tags were put on when they reached the states post-manufacture, so they are all pretty similar.)
My first attempt at finding a machine
So, since I couldn’t get the machine working that my niece already had, I figured I’d look for one similar to it. The vintage Japanese machines are usually awesome tanks which do straight and zigzag stitches. I just needed to find one without that plastic gear!
I did find one on eBay which was close enough for a local pickup (shipping these machines is expensive because they’re so heavy!). It was listed for $100. I saw pictures of the inside machinery and, from those, I couldn’t see any plastic gears. So I bought it and we picked it up a few days later.
Cute little vintage machine, right?
As soon as I opened up the top and looked for myself, though, I couldn’t believe it. It had that SAME cracked plastic gear inside!
As I wondered what the odds of this were, I began testing the machine. While it did a straight stitch just fine, the zigzag function was all messed up.
Turns out this particular plastic gear is responsible for the zigzag! On this machine, it wasn’t impeding the overall motion significantly, so at least it was capable of a straight stitch, but I was of course very disappointed! I didn’t buy a machine just for it to have the same broken part that the other one had!
Thankfully, the seller was extremely understanding and issued me a full refund, telling me to just keep the machine. I plan to find someone in need of a basic straight stitch machine to give it to. But the hunt for my niece had to continue!
Improving my machine-hunting skills… and finding this beauty!
So, I continued scouring Craigslist, eBay, and Mercari. While there were some beautiful vintage singers out there, they were a bit older and only did a straight stitch. I wanted to find more of a balance between functionality and quality in a machine for my niece. The later vintage machines were able to produce zigzags, but still had all metal parts. I just needed to find one!
Thankfully, there was a newly-posted sewing machine and table on Craigslist near me! This time, it was a Singer, so I was able to do actual research on it.
It was the Singer Fashion Mate 237, and I found this webpage which talked all about it. Amazingly, this person specifically mentioned it has all metal gears!
I was instantly encouraged by this, as well as the good reviews this vintage machine gets in general. Apparently, it stitches beautifully, which is one of the biggest reasons vintage machines are so loved!
I went to go check out the machine, bringing my (super helpful) dad with me to make sure I didn’t get killed by meeting someone from Craigslist, lol! My husband was working, else I’d have brought him.
I was a little worried because, while testing out the machine, it definitely ran, but it was super slow! I figured it probably just needed some oil, but after what had happened with the previous machine, I was really nervous!
This one was also $100, and I just went for it, bringing it home. The table and machine even fit in the back of my compact Toyota Prius!
Getting this newly-acquired vintage sewing machine running!
That same night, I went to work! I was desperate to know if the machine was fully functional. I found the manual for the machine online and used the oiling diagram to oil and lubricate the machine (most points need oiling but gears need lubricant).
And the more I oiled, the better it ran! Before I knew it, it was running at full-speed, and the zigzag lever, initially stiff, was freely moving back and forth. I was so excited!
To me, there is something so satisfying about a piece of all-metal machinery running so smoothly. It’s a completely different vibe from the plasticky modern-day machines!
What I love about this Singer Fashion Mate 237 machine!
As I tested this machine out and got to know it just briefly, I was instantly in love!
My husband even said, “Now, you want to keep it, don’t you?” Lol, it hadn’t even crossed my mind, but yes, this would be a nice one to have in my collection… if I didn’t already have four awesome machines which cover my needs perfectly!
But here is what I love about this particular machine!
Reverse stitch lever instead of button
Just like my amazing Singer Featherweight, this Singer machine has a lever for regulating stitch-length and reversing stitches. I love this feature, since it allows for hands-free reverse stitching (no need to hold the button the entire time).
Just pop the lever all the way up and it reverse-stitches at exactly the same stitch-length to which you already have it set!
Incredibly fine zigzags and satin-stitching
As I was testing out the zigzag function, I brought it all the way to the smallest width setting, and I was blown away by the minute precision with which the zigzags were created! They were SO tiny and accurate!
Additionally, if the stitch length is set to the “FINE” setting on the machine, this produces gorgeous satin stitches.
I swear guys, there’s just NOTHING like a quality vintage Singer machine!
All-metal inner parts!
As I mentioned before, this machine has all metal parts inside. It unfortunately does have plastic top and side covers, but this doesn’t affect functionality and I think it’s not the biggest deal.
The advantage of having all-metal insides is huge. As I demonstrated before, plastic gears break and wear out and often render a machine trash since they can cost hundreds to repair. My Featherweight has all metal insides and I sew with it just as efficiently as my great-grandmother did back in the forties!
This machine is made in Italy!
I was super surprised when I was inspecting the machine and saw “Made in Italy” stamped on the body! (The motor, above, is stamped “made in France” – also cool!)
So far, I’ve only come across American- or Japanese-made vintage machines. I didn’t realize any were made in Italy!
I’m not saying this matters on an objective level, but my in-laws are all Italians and I feel it’s just an extra bonus for them, and a funny coincidence!
Plus, I will give anything not to see “Made in China” stamped on a sewing machine… or anything else for that matter!
And now…
The hunt for my niece’s vintage sewing machine was complete!
Well, there you have it! My hunt for a beautiful, functional, timeless vintage sewing machine! I am super excited to give it to my niece for Christmas, especially since it comes with a tiny little table which should (hopefully) fit perfectly in her room!
I am, of course, going to give her a thorough overview of how to use it and care for it properly. That is definitely much more important with the vintage machines; their all-metal parts mean oil is needed relatively frequently.
But, if taken care of, these metal tanks will last forever, and I highly recommend them!
Do you have a vintage sewing machine you love? Or do you happen to own a Singer 237? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below!
Thanks to all of you for being here and following along on my quest to find this machine!
