Singer 401A Slant-O-Matic

The Singer 401A is a lightweight, aluminum-bodied machine in the Slant-O-Matic style. It has some inovative features for it's time, like the slant needle system with the needle bar and presser foot bar slanted towards the operator for improved visability of your work. The lightweight aluminum case reduced the weight of the machine dramatically, compared to the standard cast iron cases of prior machines.

The light was built-in in greatly improved location, and the needle plate could be adjusted for height, making machine embroidery and darning easy to do and removal of the plate for cleaning didn't require a screwdriver anymore.

Singer buit-in a camstack with numerous pattern cams formed onto it, which could be used in combination to form about 90 possible stitch-patterns. Some of the more useful stitch-patterns are displayed on a chart, printed on the underside of the lid. The lid lifts to allow you to insert other pattern cams to offer even more stitch pattern possibilities.

Singer also added the "red lever" that allowed the operator to set the needle position to the right, left, or center position, a remarkable innovation for it's time.

This machine also had twin needle capability, for decorative top stitching, and if you look at fashions from it's time you'll see lots of top-stitching and machine embroidery.

Along with it's dramatic re-styling and two-tone finish this was a totally revolutionary sewing machine. Truely one of the great forward leaps of the mid-twentieth century.

I should also mention that this is a steel-drive machine. It has power to sew materials that the modern, plastic, disposable machines don't dare touch.

Here at Stagecoach Road Vintage Sewing Machines, we are passionate about what we do. We restore beautiful vintage sewing machines to the best that they can be, because we are in love with the entire genre. The styling, the quality of the materials, the workmanship that went into these great machines just can't be duplicated today. You, seriously, cannot buy a machine this good, new.

So we search out the best of these fine machines, the ones that are very lightly used, and open them up. We disassemble the tension, the motor, the bobbin case, take off the faceplate, the gear cases, the hand-wheel, the slide plate, the bottom plate, and the back access plate and get down to where the old dried-on oil and grease are. We clean out the packed-in lint and dust, remove the thread-jams, inspect the hook and the needle plate, and generally look for potential problems.

We use high-quality lubricants in all the right places, getting into those spots that aren't as obvious to the average user, and clean out the old hardened grease from the gear cases, and we test the machines to make sure that they are sewing at their best. In our final test, which we video for you to see, we test them on sheeting or flannel, on 8 or more layers of denim, and on at least two-layers of split leather. You'll be able to see and hear your machine sew, before you commit to adopting one of these beautiful machines for your own.

After all of this, each machine is carefully detailed, to bring out it's original beauty. These are some of the finest examples of mid-century styling that you'll find, and we want each machine to be the very best that it can be.