Originally Posted by
miriam
I think getting around the tension and getting the needle in right and threaded the right direction can be a learning curve - some people aren't as mechanistically inclined as some. Some people have used machines that thread front to back and it can be a learning curve to get a clone strung up right. Someone on QB also posted that you put the needle in the same way the throat plate is shaped - not true. The video covers stuff like that. I wold have loved to have had something like that when I had 7 girls taking 4-H and none had ever seen a sewing machine. If you don't own a manual, Muv's video about covers it.
You're not kidding - getting the needle in correctly is a challenge. I finally made a spreadsheet that I keep handy in my sewing room with basic information on my machines so that I am not digging in the manuals each time I use one of the machines. I have about 13 machines that I use and the needles can sit three different ways and thus they needed threaded three different ways. The vertical bobbin fits in some cases with thread clockwise and others in counter-clockwise. Same with the horizontal bobbin; some go in clockwise and others go in counter-clockwise. Finally, the flywheels on all of my electrics and most of the treadles are turned counter-clockwise; the WW9 is turned clockwise! I was going nuts with all of the differences and I was wearing out all of the manuals - LOL.