Tag Archives: repair

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Excuse me, do you have the time?

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Today I’m going to talk about timing.

It’s that scary word that we all dread when we take our machines to the shop. Or the reason we take our machines to the shop.

It’s not: (fill in the blank)

Stitching, sounding right, picking up the bobbin thread, making me coffee, whatever.

Or It’s: (fill in the blank)

Skipping stitches, breaking thread, smashing needles, teasing the cat, what have you.

It must be the timing, right?

Not so. Only some of the above scenarios are always a timing problem.   Continue reading Excuse me, do you have the time? →

Sewing Machines

Reader Mail: October 21, 2012 Edition

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So, I thought I’d start a feature here on AA where I answer questions submitted by you, the Readers.

I get some questions via email that you would normally never see, but the same questions seem to come up time and time again. In the hopes of addressing some of them in “public”, I present to you:

Reader Mail.

Matt wrote me about his model 127, with a replacement shuttle:

… the stitches don’t always stay tight and straight as I think it should. Maybe it’s the needle size and tension isn’t adjusted right?

How can I properly adjust the tension and what needle size does it need?

Continue reading Reader Mail: October 21, 2012 Edition →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

What a Pile of …. rebuilding your carbon pile button foot pedal. A complete tear down.

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Don’t get me wrong, I don’t detest the button-style or bake-lite foot pedals.  I just don’t trust them.

Last night, I was sewing my very first applique.  The tedium of the cutting and pressing finished, I thought I’d sit down to do some of the stitching.  This is slow speed sewing, especially because I’ve never done it before, and satin stitches on my first machine would spark many colorful arguments between myself and the machine.

I made it about half way around the perimeter. Then, speaking of sparks…

I heard them.  It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard in a sewing room. bzzzzzzt, pop pop…. a weird sound like rushing water, a hum that got louder, and then crackling noises coming from below my sewing table.

This was accompanied by some warm toes

Continue reading What a Pile of …. rebuilding your carbon pile button foot pedal. A complete tear down. →

Sewing Machines

Sewing articles to come

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  • Introductions to our whole sewing machine family, and how I ended up collecting.  It should never have happened really
  • Feet and attachments – They’re an addiction all of their own or “Style boxes, can I help you assemble yours?”
  • Featherweights and their poor sore feet
  • Oil Cans – Dating them
  • Screwdrivers – Why they’re so hard to find, or little boys with mommy’s toys
  • Basic adjustments you can do to make your sewing machine love you again
  • An impromptu article – What a Pile of …. or rebuilding your carbon pile button foot pedal.  A complete tear down.
  • A Kenmore? How did that happen? Or “another way to up your machine count”
  • Tension – Not just the stuff between your shoulders
  • Fade to white – Experiments with “whitening” products to revert the yellowed color of your plastic machine back to its factory color.

Please let me know if there are any articles you want to see, and if I have access to the items I need for the article, and the knowledge, I’d be happy to post about it.

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Singer Sewing Machines – And they’re OFF!! Updated with Pics!

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Do you have a Singer sewing machine with the Featherweight style Bakelite Foot Pedal? Sometimes it’s also referred to as a Button Pedal. I’ve seen them on Model 15 machines, Featherweights (Model 221/222), Model 99 machines, Model 128 machines, 400 Series machines, and I’m sure there are others. They’re the most common pedal I have in my sewing room.

Singer Bakelite foot
Singer Bakelite foot

 

One of the most common complaints I see about this pedal is that you press and press and press and the machine does nothing,.. then suddenly it takes off like the winning horse at the races!

Another problem the older ones suffer from is “running on their own”.

What I don’t see a lot of is how to fix either problem. Lots of people suggest throwing that foot out and replacing it with a new one, or a “more modern one”.

Waste not want not, right? Continue reading Singer Sewing Machines – And they’re OFF!! Updated with Pics! →