Learn How to Repair Sewing Machine at Home by using this basic understanding of your sewing machine common problems and solutions.
There are some common situations when your Sewing Machine does not work well.
You can fix these problems at home, and resolve these troubles without a visit to the mechanic and without spending money.
Not only the basic repair and fixing the machine troubles, you can also increase your machine's sewing speed many fold by simple hacks.
Be careful that before dismantling or assembling or screwing up anything with your sewing machine, please turn off the power switch and / or unplug the sewing machine from the electric socket.
Table of Contents
PROBLEM 1 : Machine is noisy and does not run smoothly.
Threads have been caught in hook mechanism.
SOLUTION : If threads are entangled between the hook race / mechanism, get them cleared and check if any screw is loose. If any screw is loose, then fix them up.
PROBLEM 2 : The feed dog is packed with lint.
SOLUTION : If you sew daily, clean it in every two day.
IIf you sew sometimes, clean lint once in a month.
The Process is - Clean out dust and lint clogging on the feed dog teeth, using an old tooth brush.
PROBLEM 3 : The needle thread breaks frequently.
This could be due to a number of reasons:
The needle thread is not threaded properly.
- Check if the thread is guided through all the hooks and levers and threaded properly.
The needle thread tension is too tight.
- The thread tension dial is adjusted considering the sewing fabric and layers of fabric. Check if needle thread tension is too tight and loosen the needle thread tension by moving the dial to a lower number.
The needle is bent or blunt.
- Check if the needle is bent or blunt. For this, place the flat side of the needle on a flat surface like needle plate. The clearance between the needle and flat surface should be consistent to ensure that the needle is usable.
- While we work on beaded or embroidered fabrics, needle tend to bent a little, which is hard to detect. In that case, if your thread starts breaking frequently, it is advisable that you change to a new needle.
The needle is incorrectly inserted.
- Insert a new needle into the clamp with the flat side away from you.
- While removing the damaged needle, check how it was inserted and insert the new needle the same way.
- Push it up inside the clamp as far as it goes and tighten the clamp screw firmly.
The fabric is not being drawn to the back when sewing is finished.
- When we finish sewing, we draw the fabric to the back to cut the thread. Sometimes, the length desired for the next stitch start is left lesser than required. So, the needle thread pulls out or breaks.
- Check thread before starting sewing again
- So, it is advisable that we keep this thread a bit longer while cutting the thread at the end of our sewing project and drawing the fabric to the back.
The thread is either too heavy or too fine for the needle.
- Fine threads and needles are used for sewing thin or fine fabrics and thicker threads and needles are used for heavy fabric material.
- Same thread for needle & bobbin
- It is better if we test thread and needle size on a small piece of fabric, which we will use for actual sewing.
- We should use the same thread for needle and bobbin filling.
- While sewing very fine fabrics we should place a piece of paper under our fine fabric to prevent seam puckering.
These are some of the most common troubles we face while sewing. There are some more, which I’d be sharing with my next post.
