According to the back of the box Greist seem to have offered a bewildering range of buttonholers, no fewer than ten, to suit every conceivable sewing machine. Make sure you get the right one. For standard low shanks (like my Singers 15K, 28K, 99K and 201K) it's model #1. If you're looking for a buttonholer to suit a Singer slant shank it's model #5.
Inside the box is the buttonholer itself;
cover plate and screw;
five button hole templates;
and (best of all in some respects) the instruction book.
The instructions are copyrighted 1966 so the buttonholer can't be any earlier than that although I am given to understand that Greist produced this design of buttonholer we'll into the 1980s. I love the colour of the buttonholer and the instructions it looks very mid sixties to me.
The instructions are really well written and even offers tips on what size thread and needles to use. I was interested and delighted to read the following Special Note which I have never seen in a Singer instruction booklet!
This buttonholer should come with five templates - 5/16", 5/8", 13/16", 1 1/16" (straight and keyhole). Mine came with a rather odd, but useful, mix 5/16", 1/2", 5/8", 7/8" keyhole and eyelet. The templates are plastic but as far as I can gather earlier versions used pot metal ones and they are interchangeable. Even better than that, Greist made buttonholers for Singer and the templates from these are also interchangeable.
This buttonholer is smooth and surprisingly quite in use and makes great buttonholes. I think this one is going to be getting a lot of use probably with the Singer 201K with dropped feed dogs.
I love the back of the instruction manual as a parting shot!
I remember a similar buttonhole attachment that my mother had for her old Singer. The cams or templates were indeed metal. You are right about the box, too. Look at the metal tabs that reinforce the box corners. You sure don't see that today!
ReplyDeleteI have a buttonhole attachment similar to that one on my Singer 403A. Wonder if your Greist would work with my Singer?
ReplyDeleteMark P
Hi Mark
DeleteI don't think this particular buttonholer will fit the 403A because it has the wrong shaped presser bar clamp. Greist made the #5 model to fit slant shanks. It looks almost exactly the same but the presser bar clamp is slant shaped.
Hugs
G
I have a Singer buttonholer from eBay that missed some templates, so I bought a Greist button hole set with 8 templates, that works excellent with the Singer buttonholer.
ReplyDeleteI found one at a thrift store, it was half-price day $3.00. I have my grandmother's #99 and a Featherweight 221.
ReplyDelete