Originally Posted by jljack
My modern Brother machine had been very trouble free for the 18 months I have had it. It was great and had 80 decorative stitches, was a strong stitcher, etc. I had no complaints about it at all.
About 3 weeks ago it started acting really strange, tangling bobbin thread, breaking top thread at the feeddogs, not moving the fabric through right. I set it on the floor and took out my vintage Singer 301 and Featherweight and finished a couple of projects.
Last night DH helped me get the needle plate off to take a look. Well, goodness!! No wonder it was acting strange!! I realized not once had I taken that plate off, and every single nook, cranny, spring, space, crack, feeddog track and all was packed solid with lint.
DUH!!! I just hadn't thought about it, since it's a drop in bobbin in front of the foot.
SO....CLEAN YOUR MACHINE!! I should post that over my thread rack on the wall. Sorry, little Brother machine....I promise not to neglect you again!!
I took a class at the library and the instructor said that most problems with machines were the need of cleaning or re-threading. That seem overly simplistic but honestly it can very well be that. I was working on a project and the stitches were not coming out like they should. I had just used the machine the day before. It was fine and then the stitches were a mess. It didn't look like there was anything wrong with the threading but I took it all out. Even reloaded the bobbin and what do ya know! It worked :-) Sometimes, it is the simple things. I probably should clean mine now. Thanks for the reminder, Sarah