Vintage Sewing Machines 101

If you’re interested in vintage sewing machines, you’ve come to the right place!

First, let me explain what I mean by “vintage sewing machine”, these are the all metal, built-to-last, sewing machines that your mother or grandmother used for sewing. These quality sewing machines are not only still available at inexpensive prices, but as they are all mechanical, you can restore and maintain them yourself!

I’ll admit that I have way too many vintage sewing machines, and I’m always looking to add more to my collection, but when I first started purchasing them I knew almost nothing about vintage sewing machines. I didn’t know where to find them, I didn’t have information about various models and what price I should pay for them and I certainly didn’t know how to fix them at all. I knew that I’d have to learn more about them and it took me a long time reading information and researching these machines online to get the knowledge I have today.

The good news is that I have taken all that hard-won knowledge from buying way too many vintage sewing machines and used it to create Vintage Sewing Machines 101 where you can learn everything you need to buy, restore, and use your own vintage sewing machine. During the course, I take you step-by-step through the four steps to acquire a vintage sewing machine:

• Choose – Decide on a model
• Find – Find and evaluate a vintage sewing machine before purchase
• Restore – Repair, restore, and maintain your machine
• Use – Use your "new" sewing machine

The course is organized into chapters for each of the Four Steps plus a Welcome section and a Bonus section.

• Welcome – This section (as you are finding out) describes the content included in the course and how it is organized.
• Step 1 - Choose helps you decide on which model is best for you. It steps you through the process of determining what type of vintage sewing machine suits you and provides in-depth descriptions from Kim’s collection of vintage sewing machines to help you make your decisions.
• Step 2 – Find teaches you how to find and evaluate a vintage sewing machine prior to purchase. It describes that best places to search for a vintage sewing machine and how to assess a specific machine to ensure that you are satisfied with your purchase.
• Step 3 – Restore demonstrates how to restore your machine to working condition and to make it look beautiful again. You will learn techniques for simple repairs, restoration, and maintenance to ensure that your new sewing machine gives you years of pleasure.
• Step 4 - Use features Kim using vintage sewing machines from her personal collection to create two simple projects. You'll be able to see these machines in action as  Kim works through each project.
• Guides – The Guides provide similar information as the videos  in an eBook format. The Guides are useful if you want to look up something quickly or if you prefer learning from the written word. Guide files are in pdf formats and are downloadable so you can print them out for easy reference.
• Reference Documents - There are additional reference documents and worksheets in each of the steps that contain more information.
• Bonus – The bonus materials contain a guide to help you determine how much to pay for your vintage sewing machine, a guide to help you sell (heaven forbid!) a machine, and a few entertaining videos demonstrating how NOT to treat your vintage sewing machine.