Recently, I visited my local sewing machine repair shop. The owner was surprised when I asked about a Singer 401a. He had one on his shelves, and just gave it to me. He explained that he gets them as trade-ins, but the resale market is not worth his time.

He started explaining how sewing machine technology has progressed, and gave me a demonstration of a few of the machines he had designed, working with manufacturers. The modern machines were very well-behaved, with consistent stitching and smooth feed. He explained that feed dogs had progressed, as well.

So, that leads to my question. Do you prefer vintage sewing machines to modern, and, if so, why?

Thanks.

My partner and I picked up these two antique machines. I picked up a New Home with Hamilton Beach home motor and he picked up a hand crank singer 15. Both were $15 each! And we believe they came from the same home/collector as we see evidence of some upgrades and fixes already done to them. Example - the Singer 15 came with a hand crank and an updated/modern motor.

My partner showed me how to clean and rewire the motor on the New Home but other than that they're both in great usable shape! It's a clunky beast. lol

I would love to find a hand crank that works with the New Home and I also need a new foot (current one is broken but still works). Hand cranks aren't proving easy to find, so far. :(

Hello all! I am fairly new to sewing, my grandparents gifted me a singer 347 and I adore it! But I’m having some issues and I’m pretty certain I can fix them myself but not sure how to go about it. SO the tension dial (little disk with plus and minus on it) broke so I ordered a replacement and also the whole tension assembly just in case something else was broken. Today I get them in the mail, and replaced them. But now my top stitches are so loose and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Maybe I placed the 3 thread discs in the wrong order? They all look identical though so I’m not certain. Any help is greatly appreciated. Pics to show how cute she is 😭

Hi, my mother passed and left this sewing machine/ table. It says Montgomery Ward Model-R and 115V. I can't find the cord or figure out how to make it go back into the table? Is it good basic machine? Hard to find parts? Etc. Don't know anything about sewing so any info appreciated, thx.

So this machine has been sitting in the basement which is a very humid environment. It does turn on, it runs, but its like it struggles with starting. I couldn't catch it on video but the little rod coming out of the motor hub will turn by itself and not move the rubber band thingy. I have no idea about machines but id like to fix this one and learn how to mantain it. When it turns on, the hub will get kinda warm id say about 80-90 degrees(? Not to the point of burning me but i can tell it gets hot. Also the pedal was making some weird sounds like electricity sounds, like how a tesla coil sounds like but then it just stop sounding like that it also gets a little warm. The motor hub kinda smells like burnt so does the pedal(? But idk if its just normal or a product of humidity or something. Does anyone have any idea why it struggles to run and what i could do to fix this?

Does anybody have any information on this Fleetwood Model 302?? I can't even find a picture of one like it online, so I have no information at all about it currently aside from them being made in Japan from the 40s-60s. Picked it up at Goodwill for $40, seemed like a good deal for something so heavy! 😅 This thing is no less than 50lbs, I'd swear by that! Found a couple codes on it, but they didn't bring up anything either. And never in all my years have I seen a sewing machine with a "darn" option, I'm not even sure how you'd use that. 🫪 So hopefully someone can help me out with my "mystery machine", hehe. 😁

As it says on the tin. Has anyone used a vintage buttonholer on a Viking Colormatic 6000 series ? Because it would be immensely helpful for me and make my life easier as a disabled sewist than having to fiddle with a manual 4 step buttonhole. But before I drop the cash or damage my machine, I wanted opinions.