Learning to use a sewing machine - not doing very well

[Pleater]

Keeping it clean - brushing out the bits of fibre will help keep the machine going, and going well for a long time.

I knew a woman who used to earn her living sewing and she was almost proud of the number of machines she went through - having seen inside one once I was not at all surprised, it was just stuffed with fibre and old oil.

Only today my husband managed to turn a non working electronic knitting machine into a working one by giving a clean and polish to the pattern reader.

I have to confess that the 'repair' done to most machines which come to me is just a damn good clean and 60 percent of the time that fixes it and the rest of the time it shows up what is going wrong and I can sort it out in jig time.

With sewing machines it really helps to read the manual. They are usually useful even if written in pigeon English

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Deirachel]

Out Mantra was "If you can't fix it with a judicious whack of a hammer, it must be electrical".

If you make your living with a sewing machine the same mantra holds true.

The Three Rules of Mechanics:

1. Use proper Verbal Incentive.
2. Use medical Lubrication
3. Concussive Maintenance works.

(Cuss at it, bleed on it, hit with a big f****n' hammer or it will not work in the long run.)

Oh, and Laird, don't make my mistake. Remember the machine pulls the cloth in, you aren't pushing it.... (2 yards of thread to dig out of the machine later....)