Care For & Maintain Your Sewing Machine

Whether you sew for a hobby or business, it is very important to take great care of your investment - your sewing machine! With the right care and maintenance of your machine, you can be sure that your machine will run smoothly for many years.

Keep in mind that all machines are different and you should refer to your owner's manual for more indepth care and maintenance. For now, I will just share some general guidelines that you can do on a routine basis.

• A lot of hobbyists may find themselves with a couple of different machines and each may use different bobbins. Make sure that you are using a bobbin that is specific to your machine. Also make sure that you have wound your bobbin properly and that it is seated in the bobbin area of your machine correctly.

• A question often asked is "When do I change my needle?". I am very guilty of using my needle until I start running into problems such as bending, breaking and skipping stitches. After a lot of frustration, changing thread, reseating the bobbin, etc., only then do I think of changing my needle. It is highly recommended that you change your needle after every eight hours of sewing. Don't forget that there are different needles recommended for different fabrics from lightweight to heavyweight, etc. Use the correct needle and your project will finish beautifully.

• Cleaning your machine is also vital to ensure that you will have years of smooth sewing with your machine. Each machine should have a lint brush located with your accessories. Try to remove the lint from all areas of your machine where it collects, especially in, around and under your bobbin.

• One area that I tend to forget about are the tension disks where your upper thread is threaded through. For these areas you can run unwaxed dental floss or crochet cotton. Make sure that you mimic the threading of your machine when using these items to clean your tensions disks. Also, and very important, when changing thread, never pull your thread out of the machine in the opposite direction of the threading order. Snip your thread near the spool and pull the snipped thread out from the needle. Some people think that this wastes thread but rather it ensures that thread will not break in the tension disks and cause problems with your machine.

• If you own a computerized machine, you want to make sure that you turn off your machine and unplug it when not in use. If possible, connect your cord into a surge protector to prevent possible damage due to power outages and surges which can damage your sewing machine's computer.

• Consider scheduling an annual check-up with a trained technician. They have the knowledge and experience to clean and tune-up your investment.

Take care of your machine and your machine will take care of you!!! :)