I read this in an “old” Serger book this week again. I read it probably about a year or so ago, and needed the information today. I thought it was a good enough tip to warrant publishing here to help everyone out.
From ABCs of Serging by Tammy Young and Lori Bottom:
A comment in the book, made by Sue Green-Baker Continue reading Mack the Knife – testing your serger knives
The longer I work on vintage machines, the more I find parts that I need that are no longer available. Sometimes I can get lucky and find something that works. Sometimes we have to “make” them. I thought that this blog is a great place to keep track of successful and even unsuccessful substitutions.
Successful substitutions will help people keep the machines running. Unsuccessful substitutions will at least save you guys some money, by not trying the same thing I did. 😀 Continue reading Because a change would do you good – Substitution parts
Well, not really. Not here in Central Alberta anyway. We got about 10-12″ of the white sh…. stuff over the last weekend.
Ever had your bobbin case just fall out while you were sewing? You’re just sewing along, and the darn thing just gets up and leaves? Or maybe you’ve found it not snapped in when you’re positive that you installed it right.
No,.. chances are that you don’t need a new bobbin case. Continue reading Spring has sprung
What do you do when you’re sewing along and your machine’s tension goes crazy for no reason?
There are the obvious things to do: re-thread the machine, in case the thread “popped” out of one of the guides, or came unseated from the upper tensioner, clean out all of the fluff and lint from the machine, especially in the thread path ( don’t forget the bobbin case area) … sometimes you might even get desperate and clean out the upper tensioner.
If you don’t know how to do that, it’s really straight forward, and can save you a trip to the sewing machine repair shop.
But what do you do if you’ve done all of that and the tension’s still goofy? Especially if your top tension seems way too tight. Say you have it turned the upper tensioner all the way loose, and your thread is still laying on the top of your fabric… Continue reading Tear it down – bobbin case maintenance
Timing series part 6: The others
Two things I touched on but didn’t explore in detail are feed dog timing and how the timing on a shuttle bobbin works (Vibrating shuttle or transverse shuttles, also known as bullet and boat shuttles)
Feed dog timing is very straight forward – The feed dogs move the fabric. In order to do that effectively, the needle must be clear of the fabric before they start to move it.
Timing series part 5: Examples
Note: The 401A and 201 timing directions have been updated. My apologies for the previous mistake. I’m not really sure what I was thinking when I put those directions in, they were just plain wrong. They should be correct now.
Note: Never run the machine with the pedal If you suspect that the timing is off, while checking or after adjusting the timing until you’ve determined that the setting was correct. Running it at speed if the timing is off can cause massive damage to the hook, bobbin case and also smash the needle which can lead to shards flying around.
Note: The process I show for adjusting timing doesn’t necessarily work for newer machines that are set up a little differently, but the process of checking it still applies. And if your machine is on warranty, please just take it in and have it fixed. Some dealers / manufacturers will void your warranty if you try to change anything.
In order to demonstrate setting the timing on a machine, I’m going to show a series of photos. The first is the location of the timing lines on the machine, if applicable. The next is the location of the screws / nuts / bolts you need to loosen to time it. As needed, I will provide further explanation. For the technical explanation, please refer back to this post: Making Time
Timing series part 4: Why it’s fairly difficult to throw timing off, and how to adjust timing.
Note: Never run the machine with the pedal if you suspect that the timing is off, while checking or after adjusting the timing until you’ve determined that the setting was correct. Running it at speed if the timing is off can cause massive damage to the hook, bobbin case and also smash the needle which can lead to shards flying around.
Note: The process I show for adjusting timing doesn’t necessarily work for newer machines that are set up a little differently, but the process of checking it still applies. And if your machine is on warranty, please just take it in and have it fixed. Some dealers / manufacturers will void your warranty if you try to change anything.
First, why it’s very hard to throw timing off.
Why am I posting this before I finish the timing series, you ask? Well, this is what distracted me from it, and put me behind. 🙂 I’m also feeling less technical than I need to in order to finish that article today, but wanted to present you something to read. It’s a terribly long post. I apologize for that, but I’m very happy with how it turned out, I think you might be pleased as well.
I traded emails with a lady who had posted in Kijiji that they were having an estate sale that included 4 sewing machines and a bona fide stash of fabric, patterns and other craft items.
As you may have guessed, I was most interested in the sewing machines. I found out that the machines were: 3 Singers, and a new Brother. I’d seen photos of 3 of the machines and knew I was only interested in one but not at the price they’d listed it at, and possibly the “unseen” one.
The interesting one that I’d seen was a Singer 401A. The photos showed it to be in fairly rough shape though, making the $100 asking price a little high. It had the usual grime on it from oiling, but the slide plate had “something” on it that was tan and white. Corrosion? Sewage accident?
Oh I couldn’t have been closer. Continue reading The difference a day makes
Timing series part 3: What if it’s not timing?
What if you’ve checked and rechecked the timing and it looks fine? It doesn’t necessarily need a trip to the sewing machine doctor. It means that there’s another problem but most if not all of them are easy to fix, and you can do them yourself.
I’m going to list all of the reasons I can think of here, and I will add as I think of others. Hopefully though, this will get you started and help you figure out what’s going wrong.
Let’s look at the symptoms: Continue reading Time for change
Part 2 of the timing series. How to check your sewing machine’s hook timing. This is a simple check that I have heard of shops charging money for. Once you’ve done it a couple of times, it can be done in 30 seconds or less. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll never pay for someone to check your timing again.
On a properly timed machine, when the needle is down, the hook is just about behind the eye of the needle, but not quite. To be timed right, the needle will be on its upswing as the hook ends up behind the eye to catch the needle thread.
This goes back to what I talked about in the last post: Excuse me, do you have the time? When the needle is on the down swing, the thread is tight against the needle. As it begins to swing up, the thread bows away from the needle, forming a loop.
This is when the hook needs to come along and grab the thread. At any other time, the hook will not grab the thread, and worse, more than likely the needle is going to collide with the hook assembly.
