Antique Sewing Machine Restoration

06/01/2026

More progress on the free machines for teens wanting to learn to sew. A full sized model 15, capable of making canvas bags and a 3/4 model 99 with knee bar controller, both are straight stitch only, forward and reverse. Simple and sturdy machines for a beginner.

06/01/2026

This site is a great resource for anyone with an antique sewing machine. Full of manuals, history and reference materials. This is their page for Singer manuals:

Owner and operating manuals for Singer Sewing Machines and accessories, including the Model 221 Featherweight.

05/30/2026

A fellow collector south of town is downsizing and asked if I could help find new homes for several portable machines. I’m cleaning and fixing them and my daughter is spreading the word out to friends and neighbors. These will be free for teenagers interested in sewing on a simple straight stitch machine from the 50’s-60’s.

05/23/2026

Restoring a Singer 301 card table. Featherweight collectors consider the 301 to be the “Big Sister” to their smaller 221 machines.

05/18/2026

Completed restoration on this unique treadle machine and will be looking to find it a new home. $200 OBO, or free to anyone with the last name of Davis in North Alabama!

05/18/2026

Davis Vertical Feed Ruffler Attachment! I’ll be putting this treadle table machine up for sale on local marketplace this week. Send me a chat if you are local and interested. Will be $200 OBO, fully functional and with attachments.

05/13/2026

Wooden pitman bar on the Davis Vertical Feed treadle I’m restoring. Under the blackened shellac was this beautiful oak pitman with brass settings. The artistry on these 100 year old machines put modern manufacturing to shame…

05/11/2026

One of the favorites in my collection is this Davis Vertical Feed shuttle machine. Rather than feed dogs below the plate, it sets a small walking foot on top and shifts it AND the needle back to advance the material. Unique and complex, so Davis eventually conformed to the standard industry feed dogs on future models.

05/07/2026

Restored for a friend. Her grandma bought this in 1913 from the Montgomery Ward catalogue for $19.50. Works like new!

05/06/2026

Manufactured by National Sewing Company and sold exclusively by Montgomery Wards, this 4 drawer treadle machine sold for $19.50 in the 1913 catalogue. A friend had her grandma’s machine, but sometime in its past it was stored in a shed which allowed mud dauber wasps to take dust from a bag of concrete and create nests which required a drill and brass brush to clean from the bobbin and screw holes (see the white rings in the pictures). There’s always something new on each restoration, but concrete wasp nests was a new one!!!