I was embroidering a turkey on a t-shirt last night when it began to act up. The turkey looked like it was molting! The threads were breaking and all looked awful. I even changed the needle. I put it all away and before I started today, I took apart the machine and gave it a thorough cleaning. Like my sister said, just one speck of dust can through the whole thing off. Today it made a nice turkey. :) And, I didn't kill the machine.