"I don't think I lost one Bernina that day," Lewis Hudson recalled. "Next day I had them lined up on the sidewalk in the sun, about 30 machines worth $1,000 each. They were coated inside and out with muddy sludge and who knows what else."

That scene occurred in 1988, right after the devastating flood at the Mission Mall, home to the Bernina Sewing Center, where Hudson worked.

"Within minutes that day, water smashed through the front and was about 2 feet deep clear to the back of the shop," Hudson recalled. The shop staff disconnected the electricity and got out fast.

"Then we had to move cars," he laughed. "We even had to rescue some customers whose cars were floating across the parking lot.

Later, people watched in disbelief as Hudson squirted water from a hose directly into the sewing machines, flooding the precision parts.

"I'd squirt, then wiggle the shaft, then squirt again, until I had the bearings clean," he remembered. "I dried them as quick as possible to keep them from rusting, then oiled them good."
When the phones came back on, many women called who had heard the news after taking their precious "babies" in for service.

"I'd sit straight up in the middle of the night for months, thinking it was happening again," he said. "I've seen some of those machines in here recently. I can tell them by my vice grips marks on the shaft!"
♦
Berninas, known around the world as the Mercedes of sewing machines, have a loyal following. Fritz Gegauf, of Switzerland, received the patent in 1893 and the private company is still owned and operated by the family. The fourth-generation owner is Hanspeter Ueltschi, a great-grandson of Gegauf.
Bernina continues to engineer new developments, a top-of-the-line "sewing computer" selling for about $12,000. But the company still has basic models for a few hundred dollars.

Hudson, a 67-year-old Overland Park resident, started out as a race car driver and high-performance mechanic. He even had his own racing team after he got out of the Army in 1970.

"A real car nut," is the way he describes himself.

Thinking he should make more money, he became a heating and air conditioning repairman until the company he worked for was sold. Then the Bernina entered his life.

"I first saw Bernina sewing machines when I was shopping with my wife, Shirley, for a sewing machine," he said. "We didn't buy one then because they were so expensive."

Hudson had not ever wanted to work on sewing machines.

"I thought it was not how a man spends his time!" he said. "But now I even have a couple of really old ones at home that I play with occasionally."
♦
"I've been to lots of unusual places servicing machines," Hudson said.

The Kansas City Art Institute used them in classrooms and to make costumes, and they were in several other schools. He would visit the Women's Prison in Leavenworth to service machines, too.

"It was a little scary behind bars," he grimaced. "All their machines were gray, I remember."

Hudson says the biggest market for Bernina sales is quilters, who "have lots of shows and very high standards."

Quilters will take a collection of fabrics in to show him, wanting their machine precisely adjusted to handle each one.

"My most busy season is Halloween, with all the odd fabrics," he said.

Black thread is the worst, because it has a dye residue that gums up the bobbins and makes stitches uneven.

Smelling slightly of oil, Hudson's tiny workshop in the Bernina Sewing Center would be the envy of any racing team—very efficient, with tools neatly displayed. A plethora of parts he uses regularly are labeled and organized in little plastic jars with bright red lids, all hung on pegboards. He's master of his domain in a matching red apron.

Hudson knows which customers depend on their machines for their living and gives them priority when there's a backlog of repairs.

His hottest tip to sewers is to keep their machine well-oiled—"but use only sewing machine oil!" he cautioned.
One long-time customer who values Hudson said, "I don't know what I'll do if you ever quit."

Said Hudson quietly, "A lot of ladies depend on me."

Bernina Sewing Center
Windmill Square
7251 W. 97th St., Overland Park
913-341-6400
berninakc@sbcglobal.net

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