craftybear

Have you cleaned and oiled your sewing machines lately?

At our quilt guild meeting last night was a speaker and she talked to us about cleaning and oiling sewing machines. She did a great job with a video that we watched!

Karen "Craftybear"

Jim's Gem

I clean my bobbin area of lint and thread every other bobbin. My machine tells me when it wants a cleaning and oil. I just did it this morning. It also tells me when it is time for it's yearly check-up. I got notice of that last week. It will have to wait for it's check-up until I have knee surgery on the 25th of May. I won't be able to sew for a couple weeks anyway cause it is my right knee so I might as well let it be gone for a little while.

craftybear

that is a good idea

Olivia's Grammy

Keeping your machine clean is one of the things I highly stessed to my students. I tell them it's like leaving your baby in a dirty diaper.

PurpleBecca

I sew all day everyday and clean the machine more or less daily - I oil every couple of days - Dont forget about changing needles too!

Jingle

My Juki TL98 has a bobbin that holds lots of thread and I clean the bobbin area everytime I put in a full bobbin. I oil it after I have been sewing for 6-7 hours, as the manual says.

mytwopals

My Viking never needs oiling. So, there's only the periodic cleaning needed. I clean it out about every other bobbin. My Pfaff, I oil before each quilt and clean after every other bobbin.

JoAnnGC

My sewing machine is about 30 years old. At the time I bought it I thought it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen because of all of the built-in stitches, automatic buttonholer, darning capability, etc. It has gone through a house fire (it was in its carrying case which partially melted), several moves and lots of sewing projects. A few weeks ago while I was working on one of my current WIPs the machine seized up. I thought that it had finally met its demise and that I'd be able to perform the pity me song and dance to my DH to get a new machine. Well, wouldn't you know, handyman that he is took the case top panel and faceplate off, gave the machine a really good cleaning and oiling and then put it all back together. I was amazed at how much lint was lodged inside the case (not just in the bobbin area). He oiled it very well and hit spots that you just can't hit without removing the case. I plugged it in, held my breath and put the pedal to the metal. After a few tentative chugs it started back up and sounds better than it has in years. I am still dropping hints for a new one every chance I get but I am happy that the heavy-duty cleaning and oiling solved the problem. I will definitely do this more often!

Lostn51

Yes oil it quite often, and have your Hubby clean it every 6 months.

I always oil the machine before I use it if it hasnt been used in a bit. I clean and oil after every project religiously!! Since I have so many machines I usually will take them down and oil them and run them for a little bit every 6 months.

Billy

Rachel

Since we're discussing cleaning machines.. I have an older Bernina that I bought used. It had sat in a non-climate controlled environment for awhile and when I took it in for service, they said they oiled it really well and it had just a tiny bit of rust in it... If I don't use it (I have a newer one that I use all the time), do I still need to take it in for service/oiling every year?