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.
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.
09/04/2025
Heads up!
This may be big news if you or a good friend lives close enough to western Oregon to make a pickup.
We have a half dozen really nice tables that we've been saving. I'm going to put a serviced and tested vintage machine in each one and sell them for less than $200.00, each.
"Why?", I'm sure that you must be asking.
The new shop that we're building should be ready in a week or two, to move all of our machines from the (inconvenient, expensive) in-town storage space that we've used for years as a warehouse for restored and waiting to be, machines plus a handful of cool tables.
I don't want to store these tables any longer.
This sale is for the sake of convenience. Our other option is to have a big bonfire.
We will not ship these tables, so hit up your cousin or your old college roommate who lives out here and get them to pick it up for you.
We'll let you know and we'll post pictures.
09/02/2025
Emily in NYC has long been one of my best client/customer/ benefactors, going back many years. Some of our best restorations have been for her or have gone to her.
Most recently, she commissioned the restoration of this raggedy-looking Singer Spartan, which came out pretty nice.
08/27/2025
The stores are already setting out Halloween decorations, so let's talk about something Scarey!
Timing your needle bar.
Not really. It's surprisingly simple, actually.
If your machine is skipping stitches or not picking up the lower thread, and you've tried changing the needle and have double checked that she's threaded correctly, you can check it yourself to see if timing is your problem.
If you've recently broken a needle or sewn over some thick seam, the needle bar may have gotten nudged up just enough that the hook (the round thing that your bobbin or bobbin case slides into) misses the thread when the point of the hook passes the needle.
Do this:
Take out the bobbin case, and take off the hook retainer, the flat ring that holds the hook in place (so you can see the point of the needle when it comes down) but leave the hook in place.
Turn the hand wheel and watch as the needle comes down into the hook area and then starts back up.
Watch the point of the rotating hook as it goes past the needle. It should pass about a scant 1/8" above the eye of the needle. That's how it grabs the small loop of thread that forms on the back of the needle as it rises, so it can wrap the thread around the bobbin.
Set the zigzag width (if you have zigzag) to its widest setting and be sure that hook crosses the needle at least a thin 1/8" above the hook on each end of the zigzag stitch. One side will be slightly higher.
If the needle eye isn't in that golden location, here's what to do: move it.
Find the set screw that locks the needle bar in place and loosen it a half turn or so, and pull the thread out of the needle.
You may need to turn the needle bar back and forth to break it free of old sticky oil.
Keep it as close to the eye on both sides as possible, but set the needle bar so that the point passes a scant 1/8" above on the low side.
Make sure the needle bar hasn't swiveled. Correctly oriented, the needle clamp thumb screw should be set at a crisp angle towards the center of the hand wheel.
Double check everything and then tighten the needle bar set screw.
Turn the hand wheel by hand a few times to make sure all is well before running the machine.
08/26/2025
Jenee's Morse Super Dial Final Test and Tutorial
What a fine machine! The mid-Century Japanese made machines are great, and this one is right up there.In this video, see how to wind the bobbin, how to thre...
08/26/2025
My friend, Emily, had some questions about sewing machine motors so I made this video for her, to show her how to dress the commutator.
All vintage sewing machine motors work, basically, the same way, the commutator picks up electrical current from the carbon motor brushes and causes the armature to spin.
That being said, there are myriad ways to build a motor, and there are plenty of small differences from motor to motor, brand to brand, year to year.
The motor in this video is for a Singer Spartan, which, as the name implies, is a bare essential, no frills machine.
Once you understand the basic operation, it's not too hard to figure out how to work with those differences.
Of course, that's a subject for another day. This video will show you how to smooth a commutator, and for a commutator with spaces between the commutator plates, how to scrape out the crud between them.
There is a lot of variety between the many different vintage sewing machine motors, though the basic operation is the same. Some have motor brushes that can ...
08/12/2025
Once in a rare while a machine comes to me, apparently unused, like a brand new, vintage machine. This White 1514 just also happens to be one of my personal favorite.
It's going to Renee in Carbondale, IL, and this is the final test/tutorial video that we made for her.
One of my personal favorite machines, this White model 1514 appears to be absolutely unused. What an awesome find!In this video, see how to wind the bobbin, ...
07/06/2025
This is the final test/tutorial video for Madison's Nesco de Luxe Push Button Zigzag machine.
Its JC number suggests that it came out of the same factory that made the Nelco and Piedmont machines, and this was confirmed when I found a Piedmont user manual that exactly suits the Nesco.
In this video, see how to wind the bobbin, how to thread the machine, and how to set all the various controls.
And when you're ready to have your beloved machine made young again, you can reach us here,
in this video, see how to thread her, how to wind the bobbin, how to set the stitch-width and length, how to use the fancy stitch patterns, and all the other...
07/06/2025
Katie's Singer 201 is running in tip top shape again.
Such a lovely, smooth purr from the all-gear drive and the full rotary hook. Truly one of the best of the best home sewing machines ever made or that will ever be made again.
Now she heads for the paint booth, where she'll be returned to her original beauty in black and gold.
07/06/2025
It's quiet in the shop, my hands deep in someone's beloved Singer, the sounds of birds and the chickens make the background silence even quieter.
In the distance, a low rumble slowly grows.
A gigantic steel entity approaches.
The ground begins to vibrate, then to quiver as tons of diesel locomotive and their train of cars get closer.
At last this force of not nature overwhelms as it drags it's load into view and then slowly past, fills all the space from where it's emerged to where it's going with noise, shuddering ground beneath my feet, and a visual wall, taller than twice my height.
Bangs, Squeals, grinding steel on steel as the wheels crush the rails and the track undulates beneath massive weight.
As the last car nears, passes, and slowly shrinks into the forested distance, it takes with it the noise, the grind, the shuddering of the ground.
A rooster crows, the birdsong slowly returns, and peace, again, descends.
The silence and serenity that much quieter for the accent.
Strategically placed for maximum train rumble, our restoration shop is peaceful and quiet for most of the day, the silence pierced by the occasional rooster ...
06/13/2025
Here's what the most common vintage sewing machine motor looks like on the inside and how to put it back together.
Here's what the most common vintage sewing machine motor looks like, inside. Yours may be a little different, with the carbon motor brushes accessible from t...
06/12/2025
We are Stagecoach Road Vintage Sewing Machine, an internationally-known,5-star restoration shop situated along a pristine river in the Coast Range of Oregon.
Up here, there's no hustle or bustle and we take all the time your machine needs to bring her back to her youthful best.
The road is gravel but the intrepid drivers of UPS, FedEx, and the USPS come and go bringing your beloved machines to us from all over the country to be restored.
Of course, we have lots of fine machines in our warehouse, that come out one by one to go up on our restoration bench.
Here are a few recent ones;
a pristine White 1514 in brand new, unused condition,
a powerful Singer 1200 which is basically a fast and strong, steel-gear-drive machine with a knee lift to go in your industrial table,
a top of the line Singer 401A,
and a beautiful Japanese-made Brother, still in progress.
Plus scads of other beauties.
Send us your beloved machine for the care she needs, or choose one that's ready to come home to your sewing room.
It's rare but once in a long while a machine comes to me in brand new condition.
Whether a non-sewer received it as a gift, or someone planned to start sewing but it never happened, the machine sat undisturbed in its table for many long decades.
Of course, the original oil had turned to varnish and had to be removed, and she's was treated to some fresh oil.
Then sixty years of dust had to be cleaned, but under that dust was a pristine White 1514, looking just like she did on the showroom floor so many decades before.
Her paint is perfect, without a pin scratch, and she has zero signs of use or wear.
She runs and sews perfectly, too.
And, of course, this is a Mid-Century White 1514, one of the finest machines to ever come out of Japan.
This is your opportunity to bring home a perfectly preserved time capsule of vintage sewing.
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Contact The Practice
Send a message to Stagecoach Road Vintage Sewing Machine:
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.
