Zigzaggers and Blind Hemmers

Before we talk about my favorite Singer zigzagger shown above, let's talk about how a machine with a built in zigzag feature works:  the needle opening is an oval wide enough to accommodate the stitch, and the NEEDLE MOVES BACK AND FORTH with each stitch creating the zigzag.

Zigzag needle plate with oval hole for needle

If you have a straight stitch  only machine you will notice that the needle opening is a small round hole just a little bigger than the largest needle you might use.  If you want a zigzag or any other stitch with width, you will need a special purpose attachment for this.

Straight stitch needle plate with small round needle hole

These work differently from the zigzag machines though.  As they stitch in a straight line, which is all they are capable of doing, the attachment MOVES THE FABRIC BACK AND FORTH, creating the zigzag stitch.

How well does this work?  Depends on the particular attachment (discussed below) and on your standards of perfection.  My own opinion is that a well-functioning zigzag attachment works perfectly well for utility stitches (on the inside of a garment) but if you want decorative stitches (that will show on the outside of a garment) you are better off with a machine designed for that task.  I'm sure there are sewing persons out there who have take the time to master the attachments to get good results and if you are one of these superior beings, please use the comments section below to chime in.  And feel free to reveal your secrets!

Types of Attachments

First, all of them attach the same way.  They attach with a presser foot screw (and some come with their own screw) and have an arm that fits over the screw that attaches the needle.  This means that as the needle goes up and down the arm of the attachment goes up and down also.  This powers the attachment to do its movements that create the zigzag stitch.

 

 

The simplest ones are small and only do one thing.  "Chadwick" is one brand of simple zigzagger and I have found several at thrift shops over the years,and some unbranded ones that appear identical.  Some have worked brilliantly some have worked adequately. One I tested recently did not work at all.  General assessment:  meh.

 

Singer also made a simple zigzaggers and (remembering what a Not-Expert I am) judging by the graphics on the boxes they appear to be pretty old.  Just don't ask me to define the term "pretty old".  As usual, if you know more then share your knowledge below.

 

 

 

From the style of the graphics on the box above I assume this to be the earliest one I have. Very similar to the Chadwick.

I also have what appears to be some slightly more advanced models in two different styles of box

and another of the same model in a different box below.

The box says "301" but it sure doesn't look like a slant shank attachment point to me.  I'll have to check this out later.  You can never take for granted that the object in the box matches the description on the outside of the box!

 

 

 

Greist made a zigzagger that also had cams to make additional decorative stitches.

 

 

 

Those are some tiny cams!  Why are tiny things so appealing?  I suspect it is hardwired into our brains.

 

 

 The Sew Old/Sew New blog reviewed the Chadwick Decorative zigzagger and you can read all about it here.

 

 So far I have only talked about zigging and zagging but there is another useful and similar attachment:  the blind stitch or blind hem attachment. It is a very close relative of the zigzagger.

 

 

The blind hemmer is just a special function zigzagger and works the same way.  But instead of zigging and zagging on EVERY stitch, a blind hemmer takes several straight stitches, then one zigzag, then several more straight, etc, etc.  

 

 

The Singer blind hemmer in appearance is almost identical to the Singer zigzagger.  That's because it IS almost identical to the zigzagger. 

Kenmore made a blind hem attachment too.

 

If you know the trick of folding the hem properly the straight stitches fall on the turned up hem portion while that occasional zigzag catches the main portion of the garment.

 

And I just love the little card that shows the hem turned up!  There are directions in the manual on how to do it for real with the attachment.

 Now for the Big Bad Girl of vintage zigzaggers:  the Singer Automatic Zigzagger

The larger Singer zigzagger with removable cams is probably the one most people are familiar with.  They came in both a short shank (fitting the 66, 99, 201, 221 Featherweight, and 15s and most postwar Japanese straight stitchers) and a slant shank model for the 301s and 404s.  I may have left out a model or two but you get the general drift.

The designs shown on the border are made by the cams that came with it

 

There is a good Wikipedia article about zigzaggers that includes a helpful chart of all the Singer cams and the stitch patterns they make.

The scallop design also functions as a blind hem stitch.

 

 

The manual is available in pdf form online.

There are three other cams sets for the Singer zigzagger and Barbara has ALL OF THEM.  I told her that if her she-shed is ever broken into and only her cams were missing, she will know who to suspect.

I recently learned from Barbara (and this is confirmed in the Wikipedia article) that the second set produced was originally made in red but when that proved confusing the color was switched to white.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

While writing this post I reached a moment where I felt like a fraud.  I'm writing about things that I have little experience with and about which I know very little of the history.  So let's take a moment to examine the fundamental underlying questions:

WHY AM I HERE?

and the equally important

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

I'm here because I am in bleeping lockdown (self-imposed) during a global pandemic that is bound to get worse and I don't envision going shopping or having lunch with my friends or traveling any time in the next couple of YEARS.  I sincerely hope I am wrong, but my good buddy Art and I have correctly predicted every moment of this so far--most recently the uptick in cases in Europe as soon as they began relaxing their restrictions.  We saw that coming back in the spring.  (Both of us have Ph.D.s in geography from a department with a strong medical geography program.  Which we absorbed by osmosis and hanging out with our medical geographer colleagues and going to their current research lectures.  Neither one of us is a medical geographer.  End of disclaimer).

I'm here because I absolutely love vintage sewing machines and all the associated toys and goodies and have accumulated a fair number of them from scouring the local thrift stores at least a couple of times a week over a period of ten years.  Right up until the moment I removed myself from the world because of the pandemic.

I'm here because I learned to love writing while writing the dissertation for the Ph.D.  And although yes, I AM writing a novel, I have been writing it for 30 years and have maybe 50 pages written and I'm 71 years old and there is zero possibility of finishing it or getting it published.  And that's fine with me, I do it for fun and only on odd occasions.  And no, I am not going to say anything else about it because there are no sewing machines in it.  Sewing and needlework and textiles, yes, sewing machines, no.

I'm here because I also loved teaching and I love accumulating information and sharing it.

YOU'RE HERE because you also love vintage sewing machines.

And you're here for all the photos.

And maybe even for the jokes.  Some of you tell me you come for the jokes.

But if you are here for expert knowledge, you have come to the wrong place.  I do keep telling you.  

So I'm going to set aside the feelings of being a fraud and just enjoy my life in lockdown as best I can.  You folks help, you know!  I feel like I am talking to friends when I write these posts.