You can't convince me to buy vintage either. I love my computerized combos!! It I wanted to sew on a vintage machine I would dust of my 1972 issue! Sorry...i don't share the "love" . Fun to look at tho!

sandy

You must harbor some interest or you wouldn't bother to read this stuff.

Huh? Not allowed to read?
sandy

I love vintage, the straight stitch is perfect. I use vintage for piecing and quilting, my newer bernina is used for fancy stitching on art quilts.

Set up your machine(s) with a comfortable chair, good lighting, and fabrics to sew on. Offer to let the kids sew too. Offer to demonstrate if they are too shy to try it themselves. Show them the quality of the stitch. Explain about metal gears that never wear out if oiled properly. Smile! If you enjoy so will the people who come to see.

I think there is room for both modern and vintage, and it doesn't need to be so firmly one camp or another.

Personally, I only own vintage; I am still a fairly novice sewist, and I became so keen on admiring and cleaning up these old beauties. It is an inexpensive hobby. To me, the machines are as much to hobby as the sewing.

The sewing I do, I adore doing on these old stitchers. I love the sound and the smell of a real "machine". But, again, I am not an advanced sewist, and I cannot criticize someone for wanting other features.

(Though I often quip, "Coco Chanel did it all on a straight stitcher!" :-)

I think it is common, and would be great if it were even more common, for people who own a modern machine to also own a vintage workhorse, so as not to "wear out" their expensive machines on straight stitch or heavy work.

So, rather than feel you have to "convert" someone to vintage, I would think a more "inclusive" approach would be more well-received. Mocking the plastic fantastics will only serve to alienate the very person that you are trying to make feel welcome.

She didn't say anything like "Not allowed to read". Sometimes you just need to read what's written before replying to it :p

I may have "read something" into the OP's first post...did you say that you worked at a sewing machine store?
I am probably all wet but I wondered how your employer would let you suggest a "vintage" over new machine?

Anyway I agree there doesn't have to be either, or! I firmly stand in both camps as far as machines go. My workhorse home machine is a Viking #1...OK since it is almost 20 years old it probably qualifies as vintage...and it has so many wonderful features that my vintage machines don't have. It makes the most even and beautiful "button hole" type stitch you could ever wish for and my projects are often thought to have been hand done. It also allows me almost infinite adjustments with the stitches....width, length etc. not to mention the needle down feature!
But on the other-hand my newer to me Morse Lightweight is whisper quiet and has a great stitch and feel when I am sewing along with my Singer 221 and 301. And then don't get me started on the satisfaction I get from my treadle(s) when I am treading away while listening to music or sometimes a familiar TV show.
In the end there is good in both and maybe one day those people will jump on the vintage bandwagon too. Just don't disparage their choice of a shiny new $$$$$ machine and encourage them to just try a vintage once in a while.

For another spot of clarity, I work in a store that sometimes gets "retro/vinatge" sewing machines to sell, not a SM dealership or LSMS specifically. I have seen these perfectly nice older machines snubbed repeatedly because they're not the latest/greatest and need a way to help people give them a chance.

Do they sit there because they are over priced? If I am buying a machine from a thrift store I sure don't want to pay an arm and a leg. Last week I bought a machine for $20 at one thrift store. The next one I went to wanted $45 for one and $20 for one not all there. I passed.