How to Keep Your Sewing Machine Running Smoothly

The best thing you can do to be a friend of your sewing machine, and keep it running smoothly is to clean, clean, clean. And then did I mention clean? Yeah, I hear a theme here. I want you to keep that machine spotless. Lint is your enemy. It will make it that your stitches aren't as nice as they should be. It will mess up your tension. It could even make it that the machine literally won't even sew. So, your machine probably came with a brush that looks something like one of these, this one has a little bottle brush. This one's more of a regular flat brush, a basting brush. This one's a little round. This one's kind of like the basting brush again, and it's got a little pick on it. Any of these will do the job, just make sure you use them. You want to go in and brush your bobbin area, especially well. Do it very frequently. Every time you change the bobbin, you should be cleaning that bobbin area. If you have a drop-in bobbin, you need to open up, take your needle plate off and get in there and clean your bobbin assembly. It should be very easy to just pop out and give it a quick brush, and then pop it back in. If you have a rotary bobbin, you want to do the same thing after each bobbin change. Get in there and brush it out, make sure there's nothing going on. With the rotary bobbin, you can just give it a little blow with your lips if you will, and also give it a good brushing. And while you're at it, check to make sure it's still in round and that everything looks good and that your screws haven't come loose on it. When it comes to oil, more is not better. You want to follow the manufacturer's instructions. There's different quality, different types of oil, use the best quality you can find. This is a typical kit that will come with your machine as you can see there's another cleaning brush in there, they're trying to send you a message. There's also the oil. If you notice this oil is a little darker. I really prefer this very, very lightweight oil. I get it through Linda's Electric Quilters. She's primarily for long-arm quilters. And it's a lightweight oil. It's clear. It works wonderful. It also comes in this nice oiler brush. So if you have a long-arm, this is fabulous. You just unscrew it, and the brush or the nozzle goes to different lengths. So this is a great one for your machine. You can use it in domestic or long-arm machines, commercial machines. Some machines don't need oil at all. Supposedly there's always parts that are going to rub and that's what oil does. It keeps it lubricated and running smoothly. Typically when you take it in for service, that's when the dealer oils it. They have made them with different materials so that you don't have to oil, but it does need to be done by the dealer. So make sure you're getting it in for service, and we'll talk about that in just a minute. The next thing after oiling, is look at your needle plate. Sometimes if you, especially shame on you, you've run over pins and your machine's gotten a little out of time or out of alignment, the bent needle can be hitting the edges or the pins can be hitting the edges and right in here where the needle hole is, this is going to be either oval, large oval, or it's gonna be a little hole for a single stitch needle plate. You need to occasionally come in and take some emery cloth. And it comes in several sizes, fine, medium and large grade. And you just simply put it through the hole and you have to be kind of Houdini here, sometimes it helps if somebody holds it for you. But you're going to put it in there and just run it back and forth, Kind of like how you do with a nail file and just go all the way around the hole and make sure it's nice and smooth. If you noticing nicks and gouges in your needle plate, spend the money and get a new one. It's just not worth it to have things catching on it or have it pulling your fabric. It's something that you just need to check occasionally. The best advice I can give to you is, do not sew over pins. Not only will it ruin your needle plate, but you can break the needle bar on your machine which is a very, very expensive fix. You can also throw off the timing which is another fix that, on long-arms we can do it ourselves, on domestic machines you're going to have to take it in for service. And as I said, service, when do you take it in? If you have a non-oiling machine, that machine needs to go in for regular service, every one to two years. Don't go any longer than two years. It is extremely important that machine gets in. For the rest of us, and even for those of you with the non-oiling machine, it needs to go in as needed. Anytime it doesn't sound right, get it in. You're gonna hear weird noises. You're gonna... I can't stress the importance of sound as a sewer, listen to your sewing machine, and if it's making noises that don't sound right, stop sewing, something's not right. And then look at it. If it's something you can't fix or the noise doesn't go away, get it in for service. And the other thing is if the stitches are off. These are little stitch tests that you can do. This is for my straight stitch Janome 1600, which is my workhorse. Or these are two of them from there. This is for my regular sewing machine. What you do is just sew and, sew at 2.5, which is the equivalent of a 12.0 on other machines, and do a 3.0 stitch which is 10 stitches per inch on the other machines. And then you divide with a ruler, mark where one inch is and count the stitches. And I have literally put in here what my stitch count is. On this one, my stitch count was coming back at 11, which is not where it needs to be for a 12 stitch per inch setting which is what 2.5 is. My 3.0, looks to be pretty good. But when I did another test here, these were my Janome 1600s, and 15th... And let me back up. This is my 1600. This is my 15,000. I started noticing the difference. This one was good. This one on 13.5, it's sewing tighter than what it should be. This one said 11.5, again, sewing, tighter than what it should be. This is a quick test where you can see what your machine is doing and determine if you need to get it into your dealer. It's an excellent little test to do. One last thing that you can do to help your machine, is travel correctly with it. First of all, when you're done sewing at class, or you're bringing it home from the dealer, take a piece of fabric and fold it in fours, put it under the presser foot and put that needle down into the machine. This locks it so that it's not moving around as much especially critical on your computerized machines especially like your embroidery machines. Can't stress it enough. If you don't already have one, get a hard sided cover for your machine. And when you're traveling with your machine, put it on the floor in the back seat behind either the driver or the passenger, but get that machine on the floor. If for some reason you cannot put it on the floor, belt it in just like one of your children. Belt it in and never ever ever put it back in the cargo area of your SUV, the machines will fall over. They will get damaged. When I was working at a sewing machine store, one day a woman came in, literally in tears. She had not done any of these things. Her machine fell off the seat onto the concrete or to the asphalt and unfortunately the frame got, dinged. Not just dinged, but totally damaged. Once the frame was damaged, there's absolutely nothing the repair techs can do to fix it and we had to give her the news, "I'm sorry, you're gonna have to buy a new machine." If it happens to a computerized one, even if the worst is that it gets cracked, you may be looking at a new motherboard, which is very, very expensive. So just like your children, think safety first. Belt the machine in or put it on the floor behind the driver's seat. And those are all very very good tips that I think you'll find will keep your machine running smoothly and longer.