Repurposing clothing, making your own curtains and pillows, repairing, altering, or quilting and fiber art doesn't require spending more than $85 for a basic pre-serviced vintage machine.
I had over 350 machines, once, mostly vintage. I repair or service any machine within it's mechanical functions and wiring. Which means, I'm not skilled with electronics or computer malfunctions. Check out my machines for sale. And remember, once a customer, you'll always have my help and support with your purchase.
In Shelton, WA; Annie's Quilt Shop, Olympic Hwy in the Gateway Shopping Center. Annie's is one of the nicest, open space quilt shops I've seen. The co-owners and their staff have beautiful displays of quilting art, a huge selection of quilting fabrics and supplies, new sewing machines, and I know a lot of teaching goes on there, too. Annie's Quilt Shop takes in machines for repair.
Sewing Machines for Sale (check out the page Sewing Machines for Sale, too)
I have had well over 400 of my own, industrial sewing machines; treadle, hand crank, lockstitch forward-only flatbeds (circa 1890 -1920), then added reverse, machines from other countries (now they are all from other countries), zigzag, utility stitches, machines that take cams, and right up through the seventies where soon there wasn’t hardly any "all metal" domestic sewing machine being built. Like a lot of other fanciful tools, we went from... "not quite sure how this contraption works, but so vogue," to... "a revolution that changed America forever", and now... a "bling-bling-for-a-few-months-plastic-disposable."
I'm saddened it has become acceptable to buy something, use it for a few months, or maybe a year or two, then throw it in the landfill. And yet, for years we built machines that have lasted 150, 300 years, even the light bulb at one time lasted for decades. We have become a nation of quantity, not quality, and our untethered greed has dumbed us down.
We have put all future life at risk, buy our disinterest. Even education is about supply and demand. So this is more than an interest, it's a tiny revolution.
So why do I love fixing these wonderful humming machines?
I grew up helping my dad make something work, even if it was for only a few minutes. There we were; standing just outside a leaning barn, Dad holding a can of starter fluid.
He would stare at the engine, I would be behind the wheel watching for hand signals, both of us wondering if this cough was a start or its finish, as it sputtered, spewed black smoke, and heaved temporarily off its rotten motor mounts. Then as we held our breath, whether it was a little English Austin, a rain soaked Jeep, or a dream and scheme Dodge truck, a few coughs more and we'd have our start. Father and daughter eyes, frozen, listening to each cylinder fire (or not) would meet through the dusty, cracked windshield. We owned the victory together... and if the sputtering leveled out, life was good.
Even if it was for just a few minutes.
I'm reminded of those wonderful times on the farm with my dad - when I find a seized up machine. Especially those I'm convinced is a masterpiece of sewing engineering. I believe I can bring it back to life. And I guess, because an old sewing machine is less complicated than an old car, one resurrection has led to another, and another, and... well you can guess.
Choose the "Sewing Machines for Sale" page and see what I’ve posted this month!
Go to: Sewing Machines for Sale
