you are supposed to clean it out? J/K I actually am going to look up in the manual to see how to clean it. I got my machine and was so excited that I didn't even think to clean it up. I have sewn a couple of pieces together and gotten this rust colored lint pop out. I think that I will do that tomorrow at nap time.

Oops! Gotta go clean my machine!

Okay, now I plea guilty of attempted murder of my poor sewing machine, or at least badly neglecting it...won't happen again thank all the responses about how important it is to clean the feeding dog on a regular basis.

Thanks a lot for your nice quotes and maybe it helped other board readers too. :-D

At least after every small project.

I tend to have to clean mine often. If I have a heavy duty day of sewing i might clean it one or two times through the project and I always find lint. It will make a nice little rats nest on my seem if I don't. I use a toothbrush that I keep for that purpose in my sewing table. I even take the toothbrush to class with me to use if I feel any hesitation in the machine.

I totally agree with what everyone said, but I also use pipe cleaners to get in the tight areas of my machine. The dust and lint just clings to them and they work great. No canned air or blowing into my machine as someone said your breath is moist and it is not good to do that. I also change my needle often. marge

I blow out my machines every time I use them. I use that air in a can that is used for computers and it gets all those fussy lint balls cleared out. It doesn't hurt the machine , heck it is used on computers and computers are real sensative electronic components.

I check almost every time I change a bobbin. Between quilts I always take apart and clean and drop a bit of oil in. OH I bought one of those tiny attachments for the vacuum cleaner it works well to get into places I can't reach with a brush and I like the idea of sucking the lint out instead of blowing it in. Its works Really well on my serger too.

EVERY TIME I CHANGE THE BOBBIN!!! lint builds up quickly and can cause all kinds of problems, when i purchased my machine i was told how important it is to keep it clean...I paid alot of money for it and want it to last for many years; so;
every single time i change the bobbin i take it apart and clean it with a brush, then between each project (sometimes twice if it's a big project) i vacuum it all out as best i can. then the shop kind of got after me for not taking it in for a full servicing at least every 6 months...i still don't manage that, it only makes it once a year...since it's 90 miles one way to take it in...but i take pretty good care of it myself between servicing,.

One of our workshop leaders suggested using a Q-tip moistened with a bit of sewing machine oil to clean under the bobbin area of the machine--down there where you can't see or get the brush. You'd be surprised how much that will pick up. Can also run it around inside the bobbin case to get that dust that isn't seen by the eye.