Singer 327k Low Shank Feet & Lifting Plate

Hello

Had an enquiry from Paul, asking what  type of feet fit the Singer 327.  Easy, the 327 is a low shank machine so you will be able to fit low shank Singer feet.

For those who don't know, nearly all Singers, especially the early ones were low shank which means the feet are quite short in height as the distance from the machine bed to the where the foot attaches is quite small. The feet measure 1 ins high.

A couple of the later Singers are high shanks (sorry not sure what the model numbers are), none of my machines are high shank but I do have an odd foot to compare the height of a low shank foot.  You can see the difference below.  The high shank foot  measures 1 1/4 ins high.

Just to confuse the situation even more, there is a Slant Shank Singer machine, the 301 was the first one made, this means that the shank on the feet (along with the needlebar) are at an angle, they slant backwards.

Below is a small selection of Singer low shank feet that will fit on the 327K.

One thing on the 327 is that instead of covering the feed dogs to enable you to do free motion embroidery, you lift the needle plate with either of these odd looking things, they both slip underneath the needleplate which disengages the feed dogs.

You will need a darning foot, I used the one off my Singer 221 which also fits the 201.  You could use a darning foot like the clear one below as well, they are much cheaper to buy than the little hopping foot.  The little rectangular plate is for covering the feed dogs on the Singer 221 Featherweight, this is a reproduction one which I got off Ebay, an original, if you could find one would be very expensive, the cheapest one I have seen was £96!

Sorry got side tracked, back to the lifting plates.  It slides under this holding pin, you can raise with a screwdriver or just slide the lifter under it from the right.

  Then the needle plate slides over the top.

The push the bobbin cover back, this will also raise up a bit as well.

Then off you go, the 327 is nice to free motion with, it goes steady away which is what you want.  You might have to adjust the height of the hopping foot, its adjusted by raising or lowering where it attached with the thumb screw.

The other style lifter fits like this.

Both of these lifters do exactly the same job so either will do. 

Helen Howes Sewing Machines have both of these lifting plates on her website http://www.helenhowes-sewingmachines.co.uk/quiltfeet.html  She has a really good selection of feet and machine parts as well.  She is based in the UK but will post world wide (full details on how to order are on her webpage).

I haven't used the 327K since I got the Singer 201 so it was nice to use it again so thanks Paul for your question.

Cheers

Sharon