The sewing machine maven: South Bay woman nurses broken machines back to life for refugee families

It’s been a while since anyone slept in the spare bedroom in Pat Vandermolen’s Sunnyvale home.

“Obviously, not anymore,” said Vandermolen, gesturing around a room that has been taken over as a workshop for repairing old sewing machines.

For the past two years, Vandermolen has fixed over 50 broken sewing machines, which she donates to immigrant families through the Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley’s Refugee Resettlement Program. 

“I'm kind of retired, but now I've finally found what I want to do with my life: a sewing machine repair woman,” Vandermolen said. 

At 77 years old, Vandermolen had no prior experience repairing sewing machines and learned almost entirely through watching YouTube tutorials. 

“If you stop learning, you stop growing. Then you stop,” Vandermolen said.

While Vandermolen is dedicating her life to learning, she is also healing. She spent a significant portion of her young adulthood as an Army nurse during the Vietnam War, serving two tours over two years. 

“I wasn't prepared for what I was going to see and I don't think any 21-year-old, anybody should have to see the things that I saw,” Vandermolen said.

Initially, Vandermolen coped with her trauma by throwing herself into extreme outdoor adventures, such as wilderness hiking, whitewater canoeing and skydiving.

"I think I kept trying to find ways of killing myself, but having fun doing it, you know," she said.

Vandermolen eventually settled down: getting married and moving to the Bay Area. Still, her wartime experiences never completely left her.

“For me, the war is still there and it will come back,” Vandermolen said.

She discovered, though, that the process of resurrecting the sewing machines seemed to trigger some healing in herself. Vandermolen says the meditative nature of the work as well as knowing that the result will benefit families looking to start their lives in a new country has given her a sense of peace.

"I really find a lot of joy in this," Vandermolen said.