Originally Posted by PurpleBecca
A friend asked me to take a look at her Grandma's old 99k singer. It had no cabinet or case and my husband made a box for it.
My question is this - I am usually really good with machines but I CAN NOT get this thing to sew!! It stitches lovely on top but the underside is a dissaster - I tried the tension, top and bottom and a new needle (130/705 system - is that OK?) - still bad. I also tried the needle foot pressure as it was screwed way up higher than I have seen before - it did seem to improve a little - but just when I thought the stitching was improving (still bad) the thread would jump out of the tension mechanism.....
I have a feeling the top tension is not working, the machine is in good clean condition and sounds ok when it is running......
Any ideas guys?
Are you getting a mess of thread on the underside of your fabric?
In the book "The Featherweight 221 and I" by Dave McCallum he says that if the machine was recently cleaned and the throat plate removed to clean the dust bunnies from under it, then sometimes the bobbin case "finger" is not in the little slot that it has to be in before putting the throat plate back on.
The other thing that he mentions is that if the machine has
not been cleaned then it could be packed with dust bunnies, causing missed stitches and can also cause the thread to form birds nests.