We repair and restore vintage electric and people-powered sewing machines from a time when things we See the website for a glimpse of the life at Leisureland.
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We're independent sewing machine technicians who are hopelessly in love with the incredibly beautiful styling and quality of these fine all-steel-drive machines. Collectively we've been repairing and restoring vintage sewing machines for over 35 years. I've been a gas company crew leader, an electronic cash register technician, and an antiques dealer (among other things). I'm also eccentric, slightly cranky at times, and probably too sentimental. TR has worked for Singer and had the benefit of training from the Old Guys who've Been There for a Long Time. She's a musician (actually a locally famous bass goddess), technician, seamstress, artist, genius and all-around wise woman. Her cats and chickens follow her around with love and devotion. As a sewing machine technicians, we have hundreds of happy customers, and have restored hundreds of fine, vintage sewing machines. Find our website at StagecoachRoadSewing.com to see more beautifully restored Japanese, American, and European sewing machines, and to read about our amazing Lifetime Guarantee. We live off the beaten path, in the Coast Range of Oregon, alongside a pristine river, with a group of scientists, musicians, artists, and all-around geniuses.
01/31/2026
Here's anthor pretty one that's been relegated to the shelf because I messed up the final polish. Fortunately, I didn't damage the artwork.
I commissioned Oregon artist Aoloni Gouveia to hand paint the local flora for the centerpiece on the bed of this nice Singer 15-91, and the linework and lettering are by Nick De Angelo (of Graveyard Carz).
When I come to a break in the queue of customer machines to restore, I'll get her back up on the bench and see if there's anything I can do to make her perfect.
01/30/2026
Here's a puzzler. I have an old Pfaff machine apart and am dealing with a haze of brown stuff that none of my go-to solvents will dissolve. I've tried the usual 99% isopropyl alcohol which took off the top layers but has no effect on the base layers.
If you've ever worked on a machine from the 1800s, you may have encountered whale oil, which my solvents won't touch but which scrapes off easily, leaving a like-new finish below it.
What I'm dealing with is similar but it doesn't scrape off. For solvents, I've also tried acetone, peroxide in case it's organic(thank you, Georgia P), carburetor cleaner( thank you, Beth), and Evaporust(thank you, TR). I haven't tried penetrating oil yet but it's worth a try.
What do you use?
01/29/2026
This morning I'm on the I-5 freeway, driving north to deliver a couple of nice machines back to their owners and listening to the latest podcast from Used2Sew, which is all about vintage sewing machines, sewing culture, sewing history and much, much more (even a little s-e-x).
This episode is about the White sewing machines, and it's very good. As well as being entertaining and fun to listen to, I always learn new things.
The mother and daughter duo keep it interesting and TR Kelley is a master at finding information and noticing tiny details that matter.
Don't be alarmed, I'm not posting and driving. I'm having a leisurely breakfast at a truck stop cafe.
And, hey, the next episode is about the Morse Scandal!
01/29/2026
This is a project that I started quite a while ago, a Singer 221 featherweight machine in coral pink.
Rather than paint this one myself, I commissioned a professional with 30 years experience to do it, because this was a new type of paint. I was experimenting with a water-borne formula that I'd already used, with great success, on a couple of other machines, but this time we were adding pearl to the mix.
Even with all of his experience, he struggled to make the pearl even, without causing runs in the paint. He did succeed in keeping everything even and there were no runs, but there were a couple of tiny spots where the color was thin (look below the oil holes on the back).
The perfectionist in me says that I can't sell it like this so it's languished in its disassembled state for more than five years.
What do you think? Should I strip it and start over or put her back together?
01/29/2026
This is very short notice, but I will be heading north as far as Albany (Oregon) today, to deliver a couple of nice machines back to their owners.
If your beloved machine needs care and you've hesitated to make the long drive out to our shop, this is your opportunity to come from Portland or Scio, Salem or Sweet Home and meet me along the 1-5, somewhere, and deliver her to me.
Or, maybe you've been eyeing that pretty treadle- zigzag SewMor which can only be picked up or hand-delivered. In that case, reach out right away, so I have time to load her up.
Road Trip, today!
01/26/2026
Other than being grey, wet, and muddy, our Orego Coastal mountain weather is usually pretty mild in the winter..
When it does freeze, the weeping sandstone rock formations do some cool things.
01/24/2026
The 1930s White sewing machine that I'm restoring for a client has a texture pattern that I'd like to replicate. I have hammered finish paint, and rough finish paint, but nothing that makes these delicate whorls.
It would be a paint/method from that era which may not be reproduceable, but perhaps something to do with rapid temperature change while curing.
Anyone with actual experience making this pattern?
01/23/2026
My open-air paint booth has been fine all Summer and Fall but it will be months before the temps are up to the optimal 60ish degrees painting range again.
Looking at my shop space and my storage warehouse, there just wasn't any place for a heatable paint booth that wouldn't leave paint overspray residue on all the other machines.
The obvious answer was a small travel trailer that could be lined with plastic sheet and fitted with exhaust fans and air filters.
With much online searching I located a suitable rig a couple of hours away, and brought it home.
It's a deliciously cute little canned ham trailer from the 1950s, actual make, model, and year, yet to be determined. No title, no paperwork.
It will, someday, get a total rebuild from the frame up, but for now it will be a paint booth.
01/20/2026
01/20/2026
01/19/2026
Vintage Singer wiring may seem confusing but it's simple, really.
The wires from the motor go to pins 1&2 on the receptacle. It's the same whether it's an internal motor or a belt motor on the outside.
The wires from the light go to pins 1&3.
If your machine has a light switch, one light wire goes to pin 1 and the other to the screw on the switch.
You'll have to pull the switch out to reach the screw, and to do that you'll need to screw off the trim cap to take off the nut that holds the switch in.
The wire coming from the switch goes to pin 3.
The wires from the foot control (knee control) go to pins 2&3.
If the plug from your power cord has two wires coming out of it rather than one, you won't have foot control wires to go on pins 2&3.
If, like me, your memory can be spotty, draw a diagram on a post it note and stick it up by your work bench.
01/16/2026
Linda restored a fine Singer 201 and sent the electrical to us. We replaced the crumbling wires in the motor and throughout; motor, light, switch and receptacle, power cord, and to the foot control.
Linda restored a fine Singer 201, and asked us to do the electrical. We replaced the crumbling wires in the motor and rewired the light, switch, and motor bl...
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We're independent sewing machine technicians who are hopelessly in love with the incredibly beautiful styling and quality of these fine all-steel-drive machines. Collectively we've been repairing and restoring vintage sewing machines for over 45 years.
I've been a gas company crew leader, an electronic cash register technician, and an antiques dealer (among other things). I'm also eccentric, slightly cranky at times, and probably too sentimental.
As best I can figure, I’ve restored around a thousand worthy vintage sewing machines since I got hooked by them. Of course, every day I learn new things and better ways to bring back these fine machines.
TR has worked for Singer and had the benefit of training from the Old Guys who've Been There for a Long Time. She's a musician (actually a locally famous bass goddess), technician, seamstress, artist, genius and all-around wise woman. Her cats and chickens follow her around with love and devotion.
TR was my inspiration for learning to restore sewing machines, a long, long time ago. She performs our quality control final check, stars in our videos, repairs machines, listens with a sympathetic ear, and always gets excited when we bring home a cool, vintage machine.
New to our crew is Linda, a very focused individual when she’s detailing your machine. She came to us four years ago, cleaning and polishing the exterior of the restored machines. With her tiny tools and brushes she searches out the tiny accumulations of grime that hide in the corners, the screw slots, between planes of the machine, and in the knurling of the thumb-screws and brings each machine back to the best appearance possible.
For the past couple of years, Linda has been assisting with repairs and just recently she’s been applying her considerable mechanical talents to learn how to restore the machines.
She’s a lover of horses, kitties, and chickens, and besides the fine work she does with your sewing machine, she does horse-sitting (and other animals, too).
Even more recently, Joey has joined our crew as a detailer. She’s one of those people who just seems to be naturally good at everything she does, from making pies to brewing beer, to growing things, and detailing sewing machines. When Joey details your machine, she does it right.
When she’s not detailing machines or making something delicious, or just residing and being Leisurely, she returns to Portland Oregon, where she maintains her circle of friends and family, and is in demand as a model for artists and photographers.
Another personality at Stagecoach Road Vintage Sewing Machine has to be the bus. She’s our vintage sewing machine restoration shop, here at Leisureland Community. She’s set up with work benches, swinging stools, built-in vacuum system, sink, and more, but best of all is the light. With all her windows there’s finally enough light.
Our 1949 Diamond T school bus doesn’t travel any more, but she used to be a mobile dental clinic. The dental chair, swinging dentist and assistant stools, vintage X-Ray machine, suction, etc. all came out of the San Fransisco office of Dr. Painless Parker, a colorful side-show-type dentist from the turn of the last Century.
Dr. James Webb owned the bus and traveled the hip communities scattered throughout the mountains, valleys, and towns of the Northwest and Northern California bringing dental care to the rural-living folks there. More than once, a customer has brought a machine to be restored and looking up reminisced about staring up through our skylight as Doc Webb fixed them up.
If you’ve looked at the house bus book, “Some Turtles Have Nice Shells” you may have seen a little black and white picture of the bus, back when Doc Webb was set up in downtown Eugene.
Out here at Leisureland Community, we live off the beaten path, in the Coast Range of Oregon, alongside a pristine river, with a group of scientists, musicians, artists, and all-around geniuses. See the website for a glimpse of the life at Leisureland.
