My sewing machine is teaching me humility.

[abinka]

Cool thanks for the tip. I've been a knitting fool lately so I've been neglecting my sewing machine (and I have to admit it really pissed me off that I couldn't figure it out) but when I get a chance to give it another go, I'll definitely try all of the above until I am victorious!

[iolande]

Another thought . . .

my mum's old machine and some of the industrial machines at college had this odd quirk (all though my old machine didn't seem to) -

make sure that the needle is in the highest possible position before you start to sew other wise the tension is loose and pulls the thread out in a mess under the fabric (my sewing lecturer told me that after all my sewing samples had a bunch of messed up threads on the bottom - now I do this as a matter of course).  To ensure that the needle is in the highest possible position, make sure the metal thing that the thread goes through is as high as it will go (the metal thing that moves up and down at the front of the machine that you thread the thread through after you put it through the tension discs).  My lecturer also let me know that most machines usually make it difficult for you to pull the fabric out from under the foot unless the needle is in the highest position, then the fabric will slide straight out with no resistance from the threads in the machine.

I hope you understand all that!  Let me know if you need any clarification

Io

[ewushka]

And once again I LOVE my pfaff that automatically leaves the needle in its highest position unless you program it to always stop in the fabric. either way it's a simple and marvellous feature...among others

[dusk]

the only sewing machine my mama will let me use is an old singer that she had a motor put on, and i have *never* been able to use it without her threading it for some reason - i'd check it all dozens of times and yet for some reason it still got stuck. until today... have discovered that if i thread the needle left to right it works. but if i thread it right to left i am likely to end up with pieces of needle. Is this normal?!

[_hunny_]

I dont know if someone has mentioned this because i havnt looked at all pages but but kept "stalling" as u put it, duz it kind of make a whirring sound but nothing happens? Anyway, mine turned out to be the bobbin thread was loose - doh! as it winds up make sure its tight. xxx

[BelovedGoddess]

Humility?  MY machines have taught me very colourful language - would make a sailor blush 

First thing to ask is how old is the needle?
Needles only have an 8 hour sewing life before they start getting blunt, it's recommended to start each new garment with a new needle.  I remember when we first got an overlocker back then they were a real bugger to thread.  My sister used my mother's overlocker, told me it wouldn't work properly and she had ripped out all the threads.  They expected me to rethread it, first thing I did was check the needle which had a bent tip - 20 second job but it took me an hour to get the stupid thing rethreaded and reset all the tension. 

Also check that the bobbin is the right way around in the bobbin case, the machines I have used have always had the bobbin going around in the opposite way when you pull the thread - mine turns anti-clockwise.

Mum bought my other sister a Singer for her 21st, no one could get that machine to work right.  Mum would lament that it was a top of the line machine, I just told her it was crap, didn't even feel solid. 

[katie-bee]

I had the same problem and the nice Singer store lady explained it to me.

When your presser foot is down the tension discs in your machine are engaged, ie. pressed together.
If you thread your machine with the foot down it doesn't thread through the tension part properly and so you have no tension at all on your non-bobbin thread. This leads to annoying giant loopy thread maddness on the underside that you (and I) experienced.

When threading, make sure the foot is up, and then just before you thread the needle put the foot down and pull gently on the thread. You should feel tension, telling you the machine is threaded properly.

Lovely Singer lady was quite annoyed that they don't put this vital point in the manual. I felt dumb for not knowing how to thread my machine properly until she told me that they get at least six machines in for repair each week for just this problem. And it is a tiny little store in the middle of nowhere. So we're in good company.

AWESOME advice.  I'll be trying it tomorrow in hopes that my circa 1980s-pfaff will start behaving itself and I won't have to pay to have it repaired.  maybe I should stock up on some needles, too.  I only have one left and mine is definitely past eight hours of use by a few days.