#Singer 503a sewing machine review portable

It also has a rotary hook system that allows super-fast stitching of up to 1,600 stitches per minute! This full-sized machine weighs only 16 pounds, thanks to its aluminum body. Though it did not have a long sale life, it reached great popularity at the time. The Singer 301A first sold in 1953 and remained in production through 1957. The simple, accessible design of the 301 made it ideal for students to learn on! When was Singer 301A Made? They also continued to sell to schools and educators for quite a while. On the downside, this also meant a short popular life for the 301 and 301A, as zigzag machines like the Singer 401 essentially made the 301 models obsolete later in the 1950s.ĭespite that, the 301 models remain popular today for anyone who values vintage sewing machines. This means that the 301 has a simple, sleek design with no complex cams to enable fancy stitching. It is a straight-stitch machine, unlike the 401. The 301 also has accessible parts and very simple inner workings. This means that the needle comes down at an angle instead of straight lines on this machine.Ī few years later, the Singer 401 earned the name of the “Slant-O-Matic” for using this creative technology! What was so different about this machine? It used something called a slant shank foot system.

The company essentially redesigned the way its domestic sewing machine model operated from scratch for the 301! For this reason, the company made a small batch of test models in 1950 and tested them for several months in-house before going to production. The 301 piloted a brand-new type of sewing machine technology. The Singer 301 sold from 1951-52, at which point the 301A took over and sold very successfully from 1953-57. Singer patented its 301 model design in 1944 but did not manufacture the first models for sale until 1951. This provides better visibility of the fabric as you stitch! The slant shank means that the needle bar and presser bar incline forward at an angle, with the top farther back from you as you sew. It was the first sewing machine to use a slant-needle design and the first domestic sewing machine with all its moving parts concealed inside the body. The Singer 301 is a straight stitch machine with a lightweight aluminum body and a slant shank foot system. In 1950, the company reached its 100th anniversary! The unique, innovative 301 models commemorated all that the company stood for in the sewing machine world. Bringing out new technology when other companies struggled even to produce old models was a bold move.īut Singer had something special to celebrate. In contrast, Singer used the innovative 301 to launch its return to the global stage after the war. Others just had a tough time competing with the post-war boom of sewing machines made in Japan. Some of the manufacturers had to reconfigure factories that had been used for war efforts. After WWII, many American and European sewing machine manufacturers continued to sell old models designed before the war.Īt the time, this made sense. The second major factor that helped the 301 models stand out was their timing. The 301 models have a larger frame, but they still qualify as portable! While the 301 has many unique design features, it features an aluminum body just like the Featherweight.

#Singer 503a sewing machine review portable

The Featherweight remains extremely popular among sewers and collectors today as the first portable sewing machine. In fact, the 301 and the 221 even use some interchangeable parts, such as their bobbins! Singer invented a wildly popular model in the 1930s called the Singer 221, or the “featherweight.” This innovative sewing machine had a small body and an aluminum frame instead of the cast iron that everyone in the world had used to make sewing machines up to that point.

Though Singer made thousands of excellent sewing machines models literally, the 301A model stands out for two reasons.įirst, the 301 and 301A bear a close resemblance to one of Singer’s earlier models. On top of that, Singer dominated the world market, selling more sewing machines than all its competitors combined! Over the years, the company launched many technological innovations that drove the sewing machine industry globally. Founded in 1850 by Isaac Singer, the Singer Company made domestic sewing machines popular in the United States.