Burda Style For people who sew

Why is it that my sewing machine/s decide to be tempermental at the most annoying times?

Re-thread bobin and spool – still won’t sew properly.

Fiddle with tension – still won’t sew properly.

Change to every type of needle that I have – still won’t sew properly.

Clean and oil machine – still won’t sew properly.

Why won’t you sew?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh!

Today I hate my bloody sewing machine and have given up for the night.

Anyone else have this issue?

Sep 13, 2010, 11.48 AM by kiraph

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17 Posts

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  Oct 16, 2010, 12.54 PMby katexxxxxx

  If you are having tension issues, make sure you clean the tension areas properly. ‘Floss’ between the disks with a microfiber lens cloth on the upper tension, and take a good liik to make sure there is no thread caught in there.

  With the lower bobbin tension, you need to clean carefully under the leaf spring that provides the tension. Remove the bobbin case and the tiny screws that keep the leaf spring in place. Make sure you do this over a tray lined with something so you don’t lose those scrws! You’ll need a jeweler’s screwdriver in the correct size.

  Clean the underside of the spring and the bobbin case carefully, reassemble, and set the tension. You do this by threading up the bobbin case and hanging it on the thread. Give it a sharp shake: it should drop down the thread about 4". If it goes further, tighten the screw a little. If it doesn’t move so much, loosen it off. It may take a few minutes of fiddling to get it right…

  Always test stitch to make sure the tension is correct after cleaning.
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  Oct 16, 2010, 01.12 PMby sabrina

  Are you using good quality thread? Cheaper thread takes a much higher upper thread tension than good thread. I use Gutermann or Coats usually. It makes all the difference. : )

  2 Replies

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    Oct 18, 2010, 11.48 AMby katexxxxxx

    Not necessarily… It’s more a matter of the weight of the thread than whether or not it’s cheap. Some of my very high quality silk and cotton threads are finer than the heavier standard sewing threads, and need a different tension setting. The main problem with cheaper threads (and, sadly, increasingly with Gutterman threads, both poly and cotton) is that they shed lint like crazy, and that can clump in the tension mechanism, causing lots of problems. Cleaning the tension disks regularly and setting the tension correctly for the combination of stitch pattern, fabric, and thread type is the key to keeping thin gs sweet and the sewing looking good.

    Doing this, I can get excellent results from some very poor quality thread, though using better quality thread makes it much easier to get perfect results!

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    Oct 19, 2010, 02.17 PMby sabrina

    I hadn’t thought of the thread weight affecting the tension — thread feels light anyway so I suppose it’s a subtle difference. I thought the difference was that cheap thread is sometimes ‘hairier’ (for want of a better word) and the better quality threads are smoother. :)

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  Oct 24, 2010, 02.04 AMby purplefan

  Also consider if your machine is in a room or nook with a nice dry airspace or a cold/damp one. Sometimes after a cleaning or oiling, the best thing to do is leave the machine alone for a couple of days, then wipe off any oil visible and try sewing again.

  Current space for the machine I use is in a cold/damp spot, not so good for cabinet. Machine handwheel will stiffen (it’s old and mostly metal) when it needs a cleaning or oil attention.
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  Oct 24, 2010, 02.06 AMby purplefan

  About Gutermann thread-since I use it most times-yes, I have noticed the lint factor but then I have noticed that the threads’ country of manufacture is Spain, not Germany (at least on the spools sold here in North America). So could it be a cost issue of cheaper to make?

  1 Reply

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    Oct 26, 2010, 04.21 AMby katexxxxxx

    Guttermann have factories all over the place these days! Their silk and cotton seem particularly variable. I try not to buy it. One of their red threads dyed my sewing machine!

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  Nov 3, 2010, 12.49 PMby kiraph

  Hi guys,

  Thanks for all the advice but I was pretty much posting as a bit of a vent and trying to be amusing and to see if anybody else ever has gremlins in their machines? You know a bit of tongue in cheek? “Ha ha, boom boom” and all that lot…

  But I do know how to oil a machine properly. Thanks for that information though, I know is was kindly meant. :)

  I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I just don’t like this particular machine (Pfaff). I’m going to get it serviced (has been serviced once in its 3 years of use) again and see if it is better and go from there. If it is still not right I’m not sure what I will do with it. Use it as a massive paper weight???

  Here are some examples of it’s odd qualitiies…

  When sewing I have to have the tension set really high to sew a decent stitch. Yep a nine.

  When sewing stretch fabric (nylon lycra – which I sew a lot of) it likes to sew with a sharp needle that you would use for chiffon – put a ball point or stretch specific needle in and it skips stitches. This is with both good quality and cheaper thread. My machines doesn’t seem to care.

  It also likes to snap threads. :) Isn’t it a nice machine.

  I haven’t sewn with it since September and am doing all my current sewing with my brother overlocker and the machine mentioned below.

  My other machine is a Janome MyStyle that was my Grandmothers. She hardly used it as she preferred her old Bernina. I think it is a late 80s or early 90s model and to my knowledge had never been serviced. The reverse has never worked since I’ve had it. I’ve never had it serviced (never got around to it) It gets a bit ‘tired’ and starts to act up a little bit after a long sewing session but nothing as bizarre as the Pfaff which is 3 years old…

  Could be a case of they don’t make em like they used to??

  Or did I get a lemon?
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  Nov 4, 2010, 11.35 AMby katexxxxxx

  Nah… Could be almost anything. The other week I was sewing some poly habotai. Good quality thread, perfectly set tension, correct type and size of needle… Snargles everywhere! Did not want to know… Switched to test on a different bit of cloth: perfect! Switched to a different machine, using the same thread, needle, habotai…Perfect again! Some machines simply do not like some fabrics!
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  Nov 27, 2010, 03.22 AMby sewingqueen-1

  I had to giggle reading through these posts – I used to live in a very old log house (well, old by Canadian standards – nothing like what Europeans have). In any case it reportedly had a resident ghost. Not a problem to me and my family – what’s one more free spirit roaming around? Except this spirit seemed to really take exception to me staying up late sewing – the sewing machine light would flicker, the tension would go wonky, the threads would start to snarl, the needle would unexpectedly break! I would eventually say “fine then! I’m going to bed”. The next day? not a single problem with the machine! Good thing I had the resident ghost to blame, or I might have gotten rid of my machine. I haven’t had any of those kinds of problems with my machine since we moved to a new house.
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  Nov 27, 2010, 05.51 AMby gabriellch

  i get that alot too like when i just threaded and corrected the tension, the string breaks when i hit the pedals
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  Nov 28, 2010, 11.54 PMby simonewarrior

  I had my problems in October when I had a Halloween costume to make followed by a talent show costume …seems that it’s when we really need that we notice more how our machines fail. In my case I just finally retired my old Singer..and I mean old, you know the black granny Singer. She has earned her rest and will now be an heirloom for my daughter. My new machine is the Janome Sewist 500 and let me tell you I never realized how far the new machines had come. It is sew-awesome! But would you believe it, I had a problem with it and I had to take it back and exchange it? This right before I was just about done. The problem was it would not sew buttons with or without the foot. I was not happy. But once we switched it out no more problems.
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  Nov 29, 2010, 04.17 PMby katexxxxxx

  Bernie the Bernina serger took agin some thread just now… Making a 2 thread rolled hem on some terracotta linen that I dyed a few weeks back, using 120’s poly in the needle and Empress Mills floss in the looper. Did the first 4 sections perfectly. Did that magic unthreading thing a couple of times, chewed the thread up a couple of times, and required complete unthreading and threading from scratch twice.

  After which it behaved perfectly for the final two sections. Of course!

  Maybe the floss had an imperfection for a few yards. Who knows?
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  Nov 30, 2010, 07.36 PMby bjr99

  Oh Kate, I can feel your pain! My Bernina Serger started to act up before Thanksgiving. I had the 2 needles in and the left needle kept skipping stitches. I cleaned the machine, put in 2 new needles and re threaded. Still had skipping. Since it was too close to Thanksgiving to really trouble shoot I covered it and walked away. Now that Thanksgiving is over I need to get back to it and see if the “gremlins” have left. Hope so, I need to get on with my Christmas sewing.
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  Dec 2, 2010, 08.58 PMby bootycrewqueen

  I went through a living hell with my previous machine. I actually ended up taking the machine completely apart and then put it back together again using an online manual I found (you won’t believe this)on a U.S. military website that tells you how to do just about anything. (Even instructions to make a kevlar vest!). I did get it to work but still had problems all the time. It never worked properly-I figured I got a lemon. When I got my new one last year it was like heaven to start sewing and not have anything bad happen. And I have never had a problem with Gutermann threads-I do know what you speak of with the lint issue but it hasn’t really given me any trouble.
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  Jul 24, 2011, 03.13 PMby Floooo

  Maybe you have to clean the ‘undertreath room’ (I am sorry my English not really good). You can use a blush. I had the same problem and it worked. Floooo
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  Jul 24, 2011, 04.02 PMby teresa5562

  What type of sewing machine are you using? I have found great help in the yahoo groups for Singer and Necchi Have you joined any of those?
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  Jul 24, 2011, 06.59 PMby Anne Wagenhauser

  Those little Janome MyStyles are pretty destruction proof! We use them at college and they really get bashed. Old Berninas are great too, mine is as old as I am. When it was in for its 3 year service I used my daughter’s little Pfaff -I couldn’t wait to get ’Nina back!!
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  Jul 25, 2011, 12.11 AMby emilybib

  Haha! About three years ago, I was home alone on a dark, wintery night, in the funnny little mudbrick house that we lived in at the time that had only a roaring log fire for heat (scene= fairytale Gothic). I was making a costume on my ancient Husquvarna, when I stepped away from the machine into another room to iron out a seam. Suddenly, I heard the sound of the machine sewing furiously – all by itself. I raced back up the hall to indeed find the machine sewing – with no-one sitting at it. Smoke was pouring from the back, and just as I reached down to switch the power off, the needle jammed, the machine made a horrible grating noise and a squeal, and all the lights in the house went out. I’m still too spooked to get the Haunted Husky out of the shed, even to think about donating it to one of the sewing-classes-for-refugee-women programs that exist here!
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  Jul 25, 2011, 11.10 AMby bjr99

  My goodness what a story!!! Have you thought about taking up mystery writing? Seriously, I would gather up courage, on a bright sunny day in the summer, and take that machine in to be serviced.