That's sweet.

If you want one without plastic inside you may have to buy a vintage machine. Even some of the really pricey ones still have plastic gears. Good luck with your search! Ann in TN

I'm with BellaBoo. All I felt when I had to get a new machine was happy anticipation. The old machine just didn't do everything I wanted it to do. She still works, though, and I am using her to teach my DGD's to sew.
Sue

Thank you all of you for your funny, commiserating, and wise comments and for the great stories you shared. I had quite a few laughs and am still smiling at the things you all wrote.

I've spent hours reading through the board about sewing machines. It is helping me form what i'd like to do in my mind. There are so many plusses to a good vintage sewing machine and i am someone who loves and appreciates connections to the past. I know I would love a vintage machine. But on the other hand... the allure of a new model with fancy stitch capabilities is a draw too. So many of you said things about the importance of having a back up machine, which I sure realized when mine died in mid project.

So I am thinking...why not both? Vintage & New?

We have sewing machine shop in the area that is offering me a deal on a Baby Lock Tempo floor model for half price and cleaned and tuned with the full warranty. It has many of the handy dandy quilting features i was hoping for... such as needle up/down, drop feeds, quilting feet, speed control, the option of starting and stopping with a push button, see through bobbin case (I hate running out of thread in the middle of a continuous line.) Not to mention fancy pants stitching. So I'm going to go for it.

But on the vintage side, I'd really like your advice. I'd like to find an electric machine in perfect working order and good condition, maybe from the 1950's. Jacquie mentioned how she likes the Singer 301 long bed. And Miriam recommended the Singer 403 with disks. (Thanks for those recommendations!) I started looking for those on eBay and did indeed find some good ones. Of course it depends on condition and whether or not I will need to be taking it to a dealer when it arrives... but I'm not sure what a reasonable price range is.

I was wondering: Do any more of you have opinions on your favorite vintage machines that you would like to share? And do only some vintage machines have the capacity for free motion quilting? (I'm just learning to do that.) On a vintage machine, is it merely a matter of being able to drop the feed dogs?

I'd appreciate any insights you might have!

Oh how sad your old trusty machine died, but good luck finding anything without plastic in it these days. Seems like everything is made with plastic and it just does not survive well with age I have found. Wish you lived close to me, we have a good fix-it guy that only charges 25.00 to work on the older machines. Good luck.

I felt this way when my Pfaff of 25 years litterally blew up. I was putting the binding on my nephew's wedding quilt and it started smoking then ceased up. I burnt out the motor. It was a big quilt. I was really sad because I had sewn all my daughter's clothes and costumes on that machine. I knew it like the back of my hand. I had to go get a new machine right away to finish the wedding quilt. I got a new Pfaff Creative 4.0. I hope my old machine doesn't mind, but I am in love with my new one. I was amazed at all the changes in the last 25 years.

Perhaps you can keep a small part of the machine. When a good friend had to admit that the car he had inherited from his father could not be kept any longer, he kept the hood ornament. Said it made the parting possible.

It's always hard to lose a "good friend", but you have many good memories and the silver lining is that you get a new machine, so you can start new memories. My condolences though on losing a friend.

I have a singer 66-16 and it stitches and quilts super, but if you want fancy stitches that it doesn't have. It has an opening approx. 9" so you can quilt quite easily. Haven't used it lately tho cause I'm working on a Log Cabin version where I embroider the center block and build out from there. Not enough room for the cabinet the machine is in and the embroidery machine too. You can find these older machines for very little depending on where you live. The other nice thing is you can service them yourself and still get parts. The bobbin is also a good size compared to some of the newer machines. Take a look in the Vintage forum here on this board you will be amazed at what people are using for quilting. there is also a photo section for quilts made on the vintage machines.

Good Luck

Suzy

You can always use her for decoration or door stop so she isn't totally out of use after all. Be creative with her display.:)