Model 201-2

Serial number AK909528 born on April 16, 1952 and shares her birthday with 25,000 siblings.

For a little background and history on the 201, I discovered the following:

The Singer model 201 was introduced just before the Great Depression of 1929 and was produced until 1963.  The most expensive machine in the Singer sewing machine line, it was manufactured as a high end machine for tailors and seamstresses. Sales rocketed for the Singer 201 just before World War II and it was quite possibly the finest straight stitch domestic sewing machine in the world at the time. Some people will argue that it still is.

The 201 had a larger harp area than all but one other household model manufactured at the same time, (the White Family Rotary sewing machine was slightly larger) and it is powered directly by a gear drive “potted motor”. It featured heat treated hardened steel gears that are matched and lapped to mesh perfectly to each other. It used a full rotary hook and horizontal drop in bobbin that was much smoother than the oscillating bobbin common in many machines then and even today. It also featured a feed dog drop mechanism for free motion quilting and embroidery. Made from cast iron and weighing about 40 pounds, it ran smoothly, quietly, and produced a beautiful stitch. After WW2 when aluminum became more abundant, some model 201’s were made with cast aluminum.

Over its production run, the Singer 201 earned a solid reputation for durability, reliability, and stitch quality that was second to none. More than one source considers that there is still no domestic sewing machine made today that will stitch better than the Singer 201 sewing machine in good working order.

To sum it up, the Singer 201 represents the very best sewing machine that Singer’s could make and it was built to last a lifetime. Even today, many professional sewers seek out the model 201-2 as no new machine can come close for reliability, durability, and stitch quality.