Vintage Sewing Machine Shopping Tips 

You are so sweet. Thanks for the information.The Montgomery Ward machine is really sharp looking. It does look like the belt to the hand wheel is hanging down. I have bought 2 computer sewing machines within the last 15 years totaling $2,000, and they do not do as well as a regular sewing machine. They are still like new and sit. I use a Dual Sew 3400 sewing machine purchased 18 years ago, as a school liquidation that was never used - all - new machine and it's my favorite.

A lot of people get a vintage singer 99 it’s not much bigger than a featherweight and uses a common easy to find bobbin.

Make sure the feed dogs move with the wheel. Look out for 70s and 80s machines with nylon gears. Those gears can still be purchased and replaced, but what a job that is! Many repair shops won't even touch them. Clean the surface with sewing machine oil and a soft rag or cotton; no detergents, please! You can often unstick with oil, patience, and maybe a bit of heat. I'm completely down the vintage machine rabbit hole myself.

Only use sewing machine oil to loosen machines that are stuck. WD40 shouldn't be used on vintage sewing machines

I have the same montgomry ward machine, I found it at a dumpster, the only thing I had to do was replace the wires and moter, that's it! It also has a different case made by montgomry ward, wich I never see anywhere.

Yes, I got bit by the vintage bug. It all started with a FB find. I got a beautiful black 301A for $10, then a 99, and then a 403 Special. Those were both $50. My Aunt is giving me her 401 (all singers). I think I’m done!

The Montgomery Ward is beautiful.

Love your videos!!!! Great info!!!!

What a beautiful machine. I just bought a small one from Temu just for small sewing. Do you know anything about them? Thank you for sharing this.

Awesome vid! Thank you for these tips!

You have been very lucky to get the low priced machines. My luckiest find was a featherweight for $20.00 at a garage sale. When I got it home I found that the tension was broken.

Hi Thea, I really enjoyed seeing your amazing machines. They're in beautiful condition. I want to get started in restoring some vintage machines that I have, (Sears Kenmore and Viking Huskvarna). Where do you suggest I start? My searches bring up mostly Singer.

The background music is distracting

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Не смеши мои ритузы.професионал .

Keep spraying the pfaff down with wd40 on the small parts and it will loose .

Bottom line, a vintage machine is going to give you far better results than most plastic machines on the market today. When my daughter wanted to learn to sew, she bought a $400 Brother with all these embroidery abilities. That machine with it's computer and plastic, kicked her out constantly. It was a pain in the rear end. I, on the other hand, picked up a cute metal Singer from the early 70s for $25. I taught myself how to get it going off RU-vid. Parts were easy to find & cheap. I could take a denim quilt, fold it 3 times & that Singer would still go right through it like butter. Her machine could never even handle the one ply. I've since bought many vintage metal Kenmore, White, Necci, etc, in very nice condition, under $25 each. I passed up a beautiful lavender Kenmore the other day for $35, simply because I don't need it. I've since realized I enjoy tinkering & repairing more than sewing.