It's my new (old) best friend: a zigzag attachment for my antique Singer sewing machine! My mom found it in this little box among her sewing supplies.
The machine once belonged to my great-grandmother and while it is wonderful, sturdy, and powerful, it only sews in straight lines. Fortunately, some clever person figured out a way to use the kinetic power of needle clamp's up-and-down motion to power a gadget (above) that pulls the fabric from side to side as you sew. This is different from modern machines, which hold your fabric steady while the needle moves back and forth with each stitch.
The box also held these nifty little pieces:
By lifting the top of the zigzagger and switching the little wheel, I can control whether I get a zigzag, a scallop, or something that looks like the screen on a heart monitor.
The box also had some bonus pieces my great-grandmother probably slipped inside:
I think this little torture-device-looking bit (above) is for making
bias tape.
And I think this is for getting nice and close when you sew a zipper.
The only thing the box didn't contain was the correct instruction manual.
 |
| Buttonholer. Not Zigzagger. |
Fortunately, the Internet is full of generous souls who do things like scan old instruction manuals and post them online. I Googled "Singer zigzagger manual" and found what I needed
here.
So why is all this so exciting? It means I can now sew anything I want! I can zigzag stitch a piece of elastic onto knit fabric and the stitches won't break with stretching. I can do a decorative top stitch. I can add trim. Essentially, I can do finishing work on clothes made from stretchy fabric, which I couldn't before. Yay!
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