Help With Old Singer Sewing Machine

[garypl]

Hope someone can help me identify an old Singer machine that my wife received from her aunt.  The tag on the front shows AL319072.  I looked on the Singer website and searched in the site with no luck.  

Here are some pictures - hope someone can help me ID this machine - I would like to try to sew lightweight leather with it.

 

[garypl]

[Wizcrafts]

That is a Singer 15-91, with a built in pod motor, which, according to ismacs, was built on April 8, 1953.

I used to have a 15-91 and found it well suited to home sewing operations on cloth. However, it is by no stretch of the imagination a leather or even a vinyl sewing machine (been there, tried that, gave up). Parts are readily available and it uses standard domestic needles.

[garypl]

Thanks Wiz for your quick reply!  Guess I will leave it as a conversation piece and will look for a machine that will sew leather.  It sure is a nice looking machine!

[Cascabel]

.   Always bear in mind that there is no such thing as an "Industrial Strength" machine, and just because it is made of cast iron, and painted black does not make it a real industrial machine.  Many of them are Grandma's old sewing machine that showed up at a yard sale.   EBAY and Craigslist sellers lie !!   The old domestic machines are excellent within their limitations, but none of them are real "Leather" or "Industrial" machines.    A simple way to tell is that if the motor is the size of a man's fist, and attached to the back of the machine, it is a domestic machine.  Real industrial machines have a motor the about the size of your head mounted underneath the table. And real industrial machines are NEVER designed to fold down into the cabinet like a domestic.   They are much too heavy !!

[billybopp]

All the above said, it came from your wife's aunt and there's probably plenty family history in that machine. While nobody displays last year's plastic fantastic sewing machine in the family room as a functional display piece.  These old machines are beautiful and usable!  While you may not be able to sew much if any leather on it, most of us still need to sew fabric or really thin leather from time to time and it may be able to do that.  I have a little lightweight Singer that belonged to my grandmother and was used by her, my mother, my sisters, and me.  As the story goes, once as a young girl my mother was getting ready for school one day and despite a closet full of clothes claimed that she had nothing to wear to school so my grandfather sat down and whipped out a skirt for her!  (Now THAT'S love).  One day, if I do enough leather work to justify it I may pop in at Keysew and talk to 'em about a bona-fide leather machine, but even then I wouldn't trade this one for anything.

 

[Wizcrafts]

I have a side business refurbishing, repairing and selling old iron domestic sewing machines. Whenever anybody asks if they will sew leather, I bring them into the shop and show them what real leather sewing machines look like.

[MADMAX22]

Nice machines Wiz, I see you had to throw the cowboy in there so it wouldnt feel bad with all the good old steel around the shop. 

 

OP the machine will likely beat the heck out of any plastic thing you get now a days for fixing your cloths if that is something you do. Plus it looks much better then the new white boxes. 

[garypl]

Everyone has made good points and I appreciate the comments.  I'm just happy to now know what model it is and I will clean and oil using the manual I downloaded and my wife can use it as a backup machine.  I may even find some uses for it!

 

[LumpenDoodle2]

That Featherweight 221 is an absolute charmer, and can tackle a lot more than its size would leave you to believe.   I have one I bought off fleabay that no-one wanted, as it had been (badly) sprayed silver, and had parts missing.

I'm not finished restoring it yet, but it is already a real sweety to me.   Also, they are much sought after in good working, and cosmetic condition.