5 replies to this topic

[westbrook]

needles breaking? thread breaking? rats nest of thread? what may be wrong and how to fix it.

http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_c/C-202.pdf

[Snowmom]

for the heads up.

I'm going to bookmark this site, as I'm sure it will come in handy one day.

[twilap]

My "new" singer sewing machine started with the thred rats nests and the thread breaking... DD#1 had changed the bobbin. Not all bobbins are the same and the one she put in was just a tad bigger height wise... talk about a mess! Moral of story... make sure ya got the right sized bobbin in your machine.

[westbrook]

singer takes a 66 bobbin.. check the packages to make sure it says for 66

[Amishway Homesteaders]

The biggest problem is that people don't clean their machines.
depending on how much sewing you do or what kind of material you are sewing take a few minutes to clean and oil your sewing machine and you will have less trouble in the long run. The easy thing you can do is clean out the bobbin area as it collects lots of lint around the bobbin and dog area. I have a small handheld bike/balloon pump that I keep right near the sewing machines I use and every now and then open the bobbin door and just pump the area a few times. You may need to unscrew the plate around the dogs to get it all out but that too is easy to do (just don't lose the screws).
Check your manual for all the places to put a drop of oil and you can get the right kind for machines from most stores. just doing these 2 steps can save you a lot of money and down time if you have to take it in to a shop to have work done on it.

[Amishway Homesteaders]

another hint:

if you are having trouble with the thread - do just one adjustment at a time. So many times I have seen people who take a quilting class I teach call me over as their machine stopped sewing. Before I can even offer hekp they will tell me it did tis or that so they turned up the one button and moved that stop and turned that screw in or out but it just got worse. My advice is if you want to turn something just do one at a time and remember what you did and turn it back before trying something else.

My best advice:
if you are sewing along and thiing are OK but then start to go amiss. Stop and undo/pull the thread all the way back to the spool. Most times it is just that the thread has moved out of or off of something in its path from spool to needle and even I can look and look and still not see it but pulling out the thread and starting over most times will fix it.