Around 2 months ago, I received 3 Singer featherweight 221/222 (and 301) bobbin cases from my Canadian parts supplier.  The cases varied in quality and perhaps accordingly in price.  They’re also 3 of the cases most commonly seen in the wild when someone goes looking for a featherweight bobbin case.  Like me, you’ve probably read a lot about variable quality and about some not fitting at all, some stitching out poorly and other issues.

The purpose of ordering the 3 bobbin cases was to investigate why there were so many issues with some cases and if anything could be done once you got the “wrong” case.  (Caution: Long “shoot out” style post warning! You’ll also want to click on pictures to view the bigger versions.  It will probably make what I’m saying a lot clearer. )

Initially, I’d planned only to evaluate 2 cases – the Korean made Towa and the Japanese made Towa case but my rep at the supplier said they had Quilter’s Mate cases mixed in with the Korean cases and did it matter which one they sent?

Yes, yes it did!  OK, well that initial reaction was mostly based on the reading I’d done over the years about the fit and finish as well as the stitch quality of the Quilter’s Mate featherweight replica. That and I have a Quilter’s Mate hook here that I got with a parts machine. It’s fatally flawed in my opinion.

See the orange circled part?  That’s the gib screw to pull the bobbin base and it’s on the wrong side of the hook unlike the blue circled gib screw on the Singer hook.  This means if you got a thread jam, you’d have to remove the hook if you needed to pull the bobbin base.  That’s seriously bad – spoiling the timing to get a thread jam fixed. Singer’s design was simple enough that it could be done by any user who was steady enough to not yard sale the gib screw (which I did twice the day I shot these pictures). It also speaks to a lack of attention to detail at the design stage or a serious manufacturing flaw.

Quilter’s Mate bobbin case:

Identification:

This case is clearly branded Quilter’s Mate.It came only in a zip lock bag – so no branding on packaging to identify it.  There are also stampings under the latch.  See pics further below.

 

Price Point:  $$ out of $$$

The Details:

True first impression: Ugh. Seriously?  The case showed up coated in carbon deposits and a little bit of light oil.  As a result, it was a real mess to clean up. I had been warned that there were some carbon deposits so I wasn’t completely unprepared for this.

I did the clean up and then began an evaluation of the Quilter’s Mate case:

• I swear this one looks like it came with 2 bobbin case tension mounting screws (200592 – they look identical too, no X slots in the business end of either screw) and not one of those and one tension adjustment screw (201016) as it should have.  This leads to a really sloppy feel in the tension and it needs to be loosened so far it feels like it’s going to fall out when sewing.  I changed the tension adjustment screw and it does feel better but it means the case needs parts right out of the factory.  The replacement screw feels like it’s threaded a little funny – stops earlier than I’d expect but I seem to be getting more positive tension off of it.
• Once cleaned up of carbon and packing oil (?!?! – this is a no no for anything tension related! It means every case needs to be disassembled and cleaned before it can be used – even if it didn’t have the carbon deposits to remove – and adjusted.  It stitched OK other than the tension spring feeling loose as mentioned above.  Polishing the thread path helped the feel of the thread pull and the stitching a fair bit as did the proper tension adjustment spring.  Before polishing, it was a little jerky and tight until the tension screw was very loose. The jerkiness of pulling the thread out of the case is now much lessened.
• The latch sits noticeably askew.  It’s functional but fit and finish have a bit of an optics problem. This will look nit-picky in the photo because it doesn’t really show well and unless you have a Singer case or one of the Towa cases beside it, you’d not necessarily notice but in the interests of completeness, I include it.

  

• The latch screw (to take the latch off) was super tight.  I felt close to stripping the head even with a good screwdriver.  Once off though,it reinstalled well once everything was clean.
• There was oil under the tension spring. This means cases would have to be disassembled and cleaned before use.
• Tension spring looked like it might be cracked but may just be a relief bend.  I couldn’t tell for sure even under a magnifier but it didn’t break while reassembling (twice).
• Tool marks seemed minimal. (This will make more sense with the later reviews)
• Has a good solid positive click when installing to the machine.  It seats and removes well.
• The bobbin seems to sit a little proud but not enough to stop the case seating or affect stitching as far as I could see. (Singer case on the left, QM case on the right)

  

• This case fit all four machines I tried it on: 221 (probably a K series – it’s disassembled and I only used the loose hook rather than go look for the body to find the serial number), 221K, 222K and 301A. All 4 machines came with an original 45750 case when they came into my possession.

The test sew:

Neither case was adjusted for any sort of free motion sewing. Both cases were adjusted to get a good straight stitch because that’s what these machines are made to do in general.  I did that on purpose because I wanted to see a little eye-lashing in the comparisons.  Both case had good tension and similar eye-lashing in the curves.  I am confident both would have adjusted well to get rid of that if I intended to do free motion with either.

Verdict:

Would be an OK case if priced right and with the knowledge some work is required before use and if no other case was available. It wouldn’t ever be my first choice for cases. That’s partly because of the reputation that Quilter’s Mate has – making it a harder sell – and partly because of the work required to make it stitch ready/present well. That said, it fit and worked in all 4 machines which is more than I can say for one of the more expensive cases.

Probable Korean Made Towa bobbin case:

Identification:

There are no markings on the box or the bobbin case itself to denote which case it is.  The box carries the part number but the case itself has nothing on it – not even the part number.  *Note, the reason for calling it the probable Korean made case is that the boxes weren’t labelled and neither are the cases and I was told by SMS that they couldn’t confirm which case it was because they were all mixed up.  That said, it came in the same box as the last known Korean case I ordered and looked and performed identically. It’s been referred to in the spreadsheet I use to get pricing as “Good Quality bobbin case (Korean)” in the past.

Price Point:  $$ out of $$$

The Details:

This case was far cleaner than the Quilter’s mate case right out of the box.

• The latch is a far better fit on this machine than the quilter’s mate.  The fit and finish in general is better other than more tool marks (as seen especially in the outside shot of the case above) that are cosmetic and don’t affect function.
• Slightly oily under the tension spring which does require disassembly and cleaning prior to use. The least amount of oil/debris of all three cases.
• Thread pulls out of the case nice and smoothly with appropriate cleaning and adjustment.
• Has a good solid positive click when installing to the machine.  It seats and removes well.
• The bobbin also seems to sit a little proud but not enough to stop the case seating or affect stitching as far as I could see.
• This case fit all four machines I tried it on.

The Test Sew:

*Note: there are fewer photos of this case because after I did the initial testing, cleaning and adjusting, I sent it off to the person who’d ordered it from me. Then a month or so later, I went back and took some more photos to go with this post. The final photos (these test sews) were taken as I was finalizing the post this evening – thus, no probable Korean case in the photos.

As before, neither case was adjusted for any sort of free motion sewing. In fact, I didn’t touch the tension on the Singer case once I started the testing of all of these cases.

I actually think the eye-lashing from the replacement case looks better and less noticeable than the Singer case.  I’m very happy with the stitching from this case.

Verdict: This is has always been my first choice of cases.  It has the least number of issues with machines and seems to come relatively well set up to sew. It also has the best value – good fit and finish, fits the most machines and doesn’t have a premium price to do so. It seems to be the most faithful to the 45750 case which is the universal case.  The 45751 case is more problematic because from what I’ve read, it’s not backward compatible. (though I think there’s actually another reason for this that I will talk about below.)

Japanese Made Towa:

Identification:

This case is clearly marked with the part number on the box and on the case.  The bag has Japan as part of the seal (see left side of next pic) and the box also carries a “made in Japan” label on the opposite flap from the part number.

Price Point:  $$$ out of $$$

The Details:

• This case showed up absolutely coated in oil.  There’s residual oil all over the inside of the inner bag.  Yuck!  Full disassembly required.

• Latch and latch screw both sit lower on the inside of the case – might have something to do with the bobbin sitting a little more flush than on the other two cases? Hard to tell for sure.  In this case, bobbins sit virtually identically to how they sit in the Singer case.
• The tension screw is more robust and easier to manipulate.
• Case has an interesting thread notch under the spring to help guide the thread.
• This case feels heavier.  Seems nicer as far as tooling and finish.  Case is also a touch deeper – contributing to a more flush bobbin.
• Threading is smooth as is the thread pull, in and out of the machine.
• The tension spring is thicker – this is really nice and should be longer lasting.
• Stitches beautifully if you can make it work in the machine.
• Whether this case fits seems to depend heavily on the bobbin base  the machine came with. (45926, 45752, or 170168 – all seem to have the same issue but some do and some don’t.  i.e. of the two 45926 bobbin bases that I one have won’t fit this case and one does.) It only fit my 221s.  The 222K and the 301 I couldn’t even install the case. This isn’t a universal rule.  This case will fit some 301s, some 222s and some 221s.  But not all of them.  It seems to depend on tolerances that are bigger on some bobbin bases than on others.  Perhaps from wear.  If it’s not going to work, it will likely get stuck before it seats. It -can- seat if you’re a little forceful with it (not recommended!) but it will be a bear to get back apart.  This is how (too) tight the tolerances are on this case.  This may be where some of the reports I’ve had (people asking me for help with cases they bought from other people) have come from.  Things like “it’s stuck, I can’t get it out of the machine”, “I can’t get it into the machine”, etc.

The Test Sew:

As before, neither case was adjusted for any sort of free motion sewing. The Singer case remained untouched once I started the testing of all of these cases. To my eye, the Japanese case has a similar amount of eye-lashing to the Singer case.  It looks marginally worse on this test sew only because I was a lot meaner with the abrupt direction changes than I was on the original Singer test sew.   I’m very happy with the stitching from this case when it fits a machine.

Verdict:

If it fit more machines, this would be my first choice.  I’d be less reluctant to recommend this case if its price vs. work required to get a “guaranteed” fit (or risk of a come back) was a little more in line.  The Korean case needs less work to work on more machines at this point. In a machine that I know it’s going to fit – this case presents the best, feels the best and is easiest to work on.  Unfortunately because in my tests, it had a 50% failure rate – I can’t recommend it unless I can test it in the machine it’s going into or know that the user can make possible adjustments (See below.)

Some final thoughts all three of the bobbin cases:

•  All three were packed in oil to some degree.  By far, the worst one was the Japanese Towa.  It was literally soaked. This means that all of these cases should be cleaned on receipt.  This is extremely unfortunate.  It will also likely be why most of us clean and test stitch the cases prior to sale.
• If given the choice, I feel that the Korean case is very well priced and has the best fit out of the box. That’s my first choice always based on experience.  My second choice would be tougher to make  It would come down to budget and how accessible the machine was to me to test the case first.  I like the weight and build quality best on the Japanese case but the failure rate is too high for me to be comfortable with.  The Quilter’s Mate case is worth considering – especially if you’re willing to spend a little time cleaning it and polishing the thread path.  If so, it can be a good bargain case. It’s a little like buying a fixer-upper house.  If you’re willing to put the time and effort in – it can pay dividends in the long run.  It stitched well once the maintenance was done and that’s the most important part.

A Note about noise:

I’m quite noise sensitive these days. I feel like the Quilter’s Mate and the Korean case seemed a touch louder when stitching than the original Singer case but their pitch isn’t annoying and the sound level difference isn’t a large one. The Japanese case seems very close to the Singer case.

Disclaimers:

1. One thing that’s been mentioned to me several times in conversations with SMS is that the quality varies from batch to batch.  Therefore, please don’t see these comments as a hard and fast “this is what the case will arrive like” and more of an idea of what to expect if you go with the lower priced cases vs the higher priced case.
2. This is actually the second time I’ve tested the 2 Towa cases.  The first time, I first ordered the Japanese case and experienced it not fitting more than one machine.    I sent that case back but not before I filmed these videos. This was back when I thought the case I received had a manufacturing flaw.  I no longer think it’s a flaw. I think the design tolerances are too tight as I’ll discuss further below. The Korean case I ordered as a replacement fit all of the machines I tried that day – which is exactly the same as what we saw in the testing I did for this post as well.:

and

Why don’t the cases work in all machines and what can I do about it?

Ryan and I sat down and noted several small differences between my original 45750 cases (and the possibly Korean case but I’ve shipped that one off already) and the Japanese case which show exactly why it doesn’t fit some bobbin bases.  The differences are very slight but in machines such as this  – it’s all it takes.

On this right/bottom side (as it would face you if the bobbin base was installed in the machine), you can see that the Japanese case is tight against the side of the bobbin base.  Little clearance.  This is a working bobbin base /case combination.  We can tell this because the case is actually seated as if to sew.

Similarly, the tolerance on the top side near the positioning finger is also tight against the side of the bobbin base.  Little clearance.  This is what a non-working bobbin base / case combination may look like but in this particular situation, it’s simply unseated to show seam better.

This is a smaller factor still but note the curve in the orange circle below. This is not an exact match between the case and the bobbin base. I’ll touch on this more below.

Note the different curve between the top case and the bottom.  The top case is the Japanese case.  The bottom looks like the Singer case to me. The gentler slope on the bottom case will give more clearance.

(Note to self: Take the pictures and make the post – don’t wait 2 months and say you’ll “remember” it all.  You won’t. I mean, you can say it all you want. It’s the remembering you’re not going to do!)

Here’s where the clearance issue comes in.  (It’s definitely best to click on this photo to see it larger. ) The top bobbin base is the working base with the Japanese case. Remember: Both bases work just fine with the Singer cases, Quilter’s Mate and  Korean cases. Notice how the center of the upright portion curves away from the orange line? Compare that to the non-working base / case combo at the bottom.  Notice the center curves toward the orange line? That’s taken all of the clearance away. The Japanese case will not install onto the bottom base.  Or if it will, it’s far too tight and will get stuck. (Pardon the lint. With macro shots, it always sneaks in!)

To test this theory, once I identified which bobbin base / case combos worked, I put a known working bobbin base (as the only change) into a machine that previously wouldn’t take the Japanese case and was able to successfully fit the case and use the machine.  This meant if I was willing to swap bobbin bases, I could use the case in the machine of my choice and sew with the Japanese case.  This an unrealistic use case though.  No one is going to want to use a screwdriver to switch bobbin bases to make their bobbin cases interchangeable between machines.

What’s the permanent fix then? The actual proper fix is out of our control but there are some things we can try which are in our control depending on our risk tolerance.  Obviously, the best fix is to have a case where the tolerances are loosened up just a tiny bit to facilitate a fit in more machines. This is basically what’s happening with the “Good Quality” (Korean) vs “High Quality” (Japanese) Towa cases. The tolerances of the Korean cases are a tiny bit looser – allowing it to fit more machines.  This Japanese case could work in nearly all machines if the tolerances were loosened up just a touch as well.  Since we’re not the manufacturer and only the end users, this obviously isn’t an option.  So, what happens if you already have the case and for whatever reason can’t/won’t return it?

The problem appears to my eye to actually be the bobbin base being inconsistent.  This could possibly be more wear on the base that works (increasing tolerances) / simply that the manufacturing process wasn’t that exact between factories or even between runs /  a conscious decision for Singer for whatever reason.  The probably most correct situation would be for the bobbin base to be adjusted to fit all cases, however;  I would never recommend this.

Here’s why:  The bobbin base is discontinued – even from Alphasew/Quilter’s Mate.  That means if a mistake is made while making the modification, it can render the machine permanently (unless donor parts are found) unusable. The more realistic solution would be to modify the bobbin case.  There’s a better than average chance that the tolerance required can be found in polishing these surfaces.  This would have to be carefully done to avoid going through the plating on the case but looks feasible.

The other incentive to modify the case instead of the bobbin base is if a person wanted to share a case between machines, they wouldn’t have to potentially modify more than one base.

Because we all know these machines like to congregate in herds…. not just in my house either!

Today’s post title comes from the song “No Good” from Kaleo, a band from Iceland.  This song first caught Ryan’s attention because of its swampy guitar groove. It’s now in regular rotation here.

And with that, I better publish this post before I add more to it. It’s already the length of a very respectable university essay!