Until today, I KNEW about the benefits of sewing machine maintenance, such as:
- It should be done once a year
- If your machine has been sitting a long or undefined time, it should be serviced before using
- That its a normal part of keeping a sewing machine in good condition
But I had never actually EXPERIENCED a maintained sewing machine. I’ve been sewing for 9-10 years on the same machine, majority of my sewing being in the last 2 years. Never once had I taken it to the shop.
Until a week ago.
The issue
It stopped working. The top thread no longer hooked (please excuse my simplistic, inaccurate terminology) onto the bobbin thread. Not when my foot was heavy to the metal, and not when I hand-turned the crank. Then I remembered hearing something about the timing of a machine having to be checked and often adjusted as part of regular maintenance. Oh right! That thing I had never done before (other than removing lint with a toothbrush).
The solution
So I called up the local shops. Unhappy with a 4-6 week wait at multiple repair shops, I kept calling around. On the recommendation from a local leather working shop, I called up Mason Sewing Machines in Vancouver, BC. The woman on the phone gave me a 10-15 day estimate which was way better than 4-6 weeks, so I brought it in. And in 7 days, I received a call that it was fixed! Yay! I picked it up and started sewing the moment I could.
Now I had been free motion sewing when it went caput, so I immediately started free motion sewing where I left off. Here is the difference on 2 separate pieces I was working on.
The left hand piece was before I took the machine in. Look at how much looping was going on underneath! This loopy business had been going on for quite a while, here and there, not as frequently. But this is a mess! On top of that, my thread was breaking VERY frequently. I had just started to learn free motion stitching and thought these problems were because I was learning a new skill. But taking a look at the right hand piece, I can see that most of my woes had been due to the machine.
I’ve once heard it said that when something goes wrong, men blame their tools, but women blame themselves. Well, in this instance at least, the proverb was right. My point isn’t to prove the proverb true, my point is to remind you to pay attention to your tools! They could be making it harder for you.
Now that my machine is back, and I can stitch properly, I am quite the happy camper indeed.
Now, go ahead, get stitching! Right after you do some sewing machine maintenance, that is.
