Bent needle in FW:
 

I was stay stitching around a very embellished quilt block, when my needle hit a little pearl & bent it.
After that I just get tangles & I just can't seem to get it to sew. I have cleaned it & rethreaded it
top & bottom, but nothing works. I was wondering is there something I can do to fix it , myself?
Oh yes, I did change the needle right away.

I wonder if you put the needle in correctly. the featherweights are backwards from most other machines - the flat side of your needle should be on the left side, put all the way up in the needle clamp, and then you thread it going in on the right side and out on the left.

One of many reasons we are told to move pins rather than his them is that you can throw the timing off.

Check the bobbin case for damage, then check the bobbin tension and make sure it's firm, then check the race and make sure it's not damaged, then try another needle, also make sure that the needle is reaching fully down into the bobbin.... Good luck. Timing may be off.

Put the needle in right. I am near sighted and even with that advantage sometimes there is so much glare from the machine light, or I just can't get the right angle to see where the flat is on the needle. I've put them in right, I know I did, but the machine won't sew so when I check it the darn needle is in sideways or backwards. :(

Just pop the needle out, and make sure it goes in flat to the left and stays there as you tighten the clamp screw. Then remember to thread it right to left. :D

Joe

I agree with Joe. Most of the time with a FW, it is a needle in wrong or threading problem.

I have hit pins etc with my Featherweights and so far it has not damaged anything. Just make sure that the needle is in correctly and rethread. Many times, I have been asked to have a look at a Featherweight when at a quilt guild retreat that is acting up. Don't see anything wrong, but go through and double check and when I get done, works perfectly! Not sure why it was not working for the owner just a few minutes before. They say that I have 'the touch' to get them working. Just check everything!

The positioning finger shouldn't be it, but it's worth looking. Make sure that the finger is where it belongs, like in this pic (and thanks to Candace for posting it first so I could refer to it. :) )
http://www.april1930s.com/html/bobbi...___needle.html

Also double check that the bobbin case is completely snapped into place. Sometimes it seems like they are but they're not....

If none of the above posted solutions work, please check the timing and let us know. You don't need to take it to a repair (wo)man for this.

I can post an image if necessary, but it's pretty simple.

If you watch Dan's avatar, you'll see that when the needle is down, the hook is just about behind it, but not quite. To be timed right, the needle will be on its upswing as the hook ends up behind it to catch the needle thread.

If you remove the faceplate on the machine, and turn the handwheel so that the needlebar is in the fully down position, you'll see 2 lines on the top of the needlebar.

If you turn the handwheel further, until the needlebar has covered the top line, and is just about to cover the second line, when you look at where the hook is, it should be directly behind the needle. If it's a little further ahead or behind than that, this means the timing is off, and you may find that it starts to stitch weird.

If the timing is off, please let us know, and I'll post a couple of pictures on how to time it. It's also not difficult. It's one of those things that sounds scarier than it is... like adjusting bobbin case tension.

Just patience required.

Thankyou Archaic Arcane, You mentioned the finger. Is that B2 & A2 on that photo? Well that is out of place on my machine. Do you think I can undo the screws there & put it in place? I don't want to do anything I can't handle, even though it looks quite simple. If this doesn't work I guess I'll ask for more info about the timeing. Eva

Hi Eva,

Sorry for the long response, I was scrapping with a sewing machine and got a little carried away. :o

Yes, if A2 is flopping around, then it will cause issues. This is a pretty common problem. The easiest way to fix it, is to remove the needleplate, as if you were going to clean the feed dogs, and reposition the finger to the "upright" position, then carefully place the needle plate back down so that it straddles that finger.

I bet that fixes the problem. If it doesn't, let us know, and I'll post more about the timing issue. By the way, it's pretty rare for a FW to go out of time as far as I can tell, so that's why I said that working through all of the other suggested issues first are the way to go...

Easy as pie! I know you can do it.