FAQ

Shipping

Q: I am sending my Featherweight to my daughter -- any tips for packing?

A: The digests are full of disaster stories about Featherweights that have been damaged in transit but to my mind the fault is more often with the packing, rather than the shiping company.

I can only tell you how I do it -- and so far we've had a 100 percent success rate and have tested the packing by dropping a machine from a second storey window.

Firstly I remove the spool pin plate and the bobbon winder. Then it's vital to ensure that the machine cannot move even the slightest amount within its box. We wrap the machine in a large Polythene bag and then put three layers of bubble wrap around it. Now it's forced into the box and shaped styrofoam wedges fitted around it to a height where they are just crushed by the tray or lid. You can now use the space to the left of the machine to pack—carefully wrapped in bubble—the spool plate, bobbin winder, accessories, oil can, etc.

Now you need a two or three-wall carton that is 4.5 inches larger than the machine case in all directions. This allows the carton to be lined throughout with two-inch thick styrofoam. The machine in its case can now be wrapped in three layers of bubble and then forced into the lined carton, the top block of styrofoam fitted and the lid secured. We use a two-inch wide high-tack sealing tape and then plastic crimped straps.

White machines with their more fragile boxes present more complications as there is no way that the machine can be shipped within its box. Fix the machine in the box firmly enough to prevent movement and you are likely to split it from the inside.

Safest thing to do is to ship the case and the machine separately.

I know it sounds a lot of bother, but so is negotiating a claim with the shipping company.

E-mail your query/contribution

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