pjnesler---a craft pipecleaner will get in so many of those spaces that a brush will not get to. Bend it in half and use the fold to poke around the bobbin area and you will be surprised how much lint it will pick up and stick to the pipe cleaner. The pipe cleaner will bend and not harm your machine.

I once had a student who's machine was very noisy and producing less than quality stitches. We changed needles, re-threaded the machine, checked the bobbin, cleaned around the bobbin area, etc. but with little change. Finally, I asked if she had her little screw driver so we could take the plate off and she looked at me funny and said, "I always wondered why that screw driver was here." Needless to say there was a lot of lint build up there and when I removed it, it looked like a mini felted wool blanket!

The machine sewed beautifully after that, but the student was not quite happy. When I asked her what was wrong, she said that the machine was now too quiet and she kind if missed that familiar rhythmic pounding sound. She got used to the quiet and now regularly cleans her machine. We still laugh about that. :-)

...and we want happy sewers, too.

I have had that same problem. The stuff packed in the bobbin casing area was like thick gray felt. Icky!

I have a friend who always preferred to hand sew her blocks - 'til we cleaned out all the lint in her machine!

Thanks for the good reminder!

Great reminder! I just bought a new Viking and I need to clean mine too. Even have the attachments for my vacuum cleaner.

WOW oh WOW I would never get any sewing done if I did it that often, lOL I do it after every project, keeps me running smoothly.

My rule of thumb is to pre-wind three bobbins for whatever color of thread I am working with. When the bobbins are out, it is time to take off the plate and remove lint! It is amazing what can build up in that time.

I also use pipe cleaners to clean my machine. Amazing how much lint gets way down in all those nooks and crannies. When i owned the shop and sold Janome's that usually was the main problem when people brought their machines in. Favorite saying "I didn't know I had to clean it." DUH!!!!

I clean out all visible lint when I change the bobbin and give it a good cleaning before quilting a quilt. If there is a lot of lint I clean it again.