Thread: do you read the instructions before starting to use anew machine?

Or do you just " start in" and hope for the best?

A Well -written manual does have a lot of useful information in it.

I have been amazed at how much I learned when I read the instructions!

Originally Posted by Chasing Hawk

I read everything, then keep it near by for future reference.

Yep....me too.

Originally Posted by Chasing Hawk

I read everything, then keep it near by for future reference.

Same here. I read instructions/manuals for everything I get--cameras, appliances, etc and save them. All my appliance manuals go in a three ring binder I keep in my utility room. Never know when you might need spare parts, etc and the listing in the manuals give that info.

All my friends make fun of me.....I never read manuals on anything until I have at least tried to make it work! I am 72 and this works for me! Those same friends call me to come over and troubleshoot their machines (and appliances) because they can't figure them out even with a manual...so I guess it depends on your comfort/confidence level! I have found I can sit down and thread any sewing machine without direction (sergers are a different story, so I have the BL, problem solved) and there are only so many ways to make a bobbin work, trial and error never broke anything....yet!

When I got my little portable Europro machine I did just start using it. It is a very basic machine, and much like using my Singer 15-91. But when I got my Janome 6600P there was so much more to it, I did need the manual and some instructions to make it fully functional. From taking the first 2 classes it made the manual make more sense. Then I bought my Husqvarna embroidery/sewing machine it was demonstrated - appeared to be easy to use, but I wanted the additional class to help me understand all the machine could do. I bought the embroidery computer software from a place 110 miles up the road, wish I had bought it locally so I could have had more training on it.

Once I know the basics then I am able to play around more with the machine to get the results I want.

I didn't read the manual on my first machine (even though it was super short). Years later, I was struggling with something & read through everything and learned I was doing some things "wrong". Started following the manual & low and behold, my sewing dramatically improved and thread stopped breaking so often. Now I consider the manual a must-read.