Originally Posted by feline fanatic
Originally Posted by Cdrlinda
I am new to sewing and quilting. Was in a hurry today and am not sure what went wrong but I broke a needle. I have never changed a needle before but will read my manual. I have been sewing for about a year have made about 5 lap size quilts. Should I have changed needle? I have never cleaned my machine. How do you do this and how often? Thanks in advance for the info
You should clean and oil your machine every few bobbinfuls. I do mine every 3 bobbins. You clean and oil in the area where your bobbin is. The manual should tell you where on the bobbin race you should apply a few drops of sewing machine oil which you can pick up anywhere, even walmart. Cleaning involves taking a stiff bristled brush and brushing any lint that has built up out of the bobbin race area. I also remove the plate that sits over the feed dogs, it usually unscrews or snaps up and get all the lint out of the feed dog area too.
Here is just one link of many I found. If you put "How to clean and oil a sewing machine" in the seach engine it will bring back loads of stuff
http://www.ehow.com/how_5064_clean-sewing-machine.html
I would be very careful about oiling a machine. I sew with a Viking Sapphire 850 and mine does not use oil. Usually just changing the needle regularly will help prevent broken needles. Also be careful about sewing over pins. Some insist that you should NEVER sew over pins; others do it regularly. I sew over pins, but occasionally do break a needle. I like to place my pins so that the head is pointing to the left instead of the right. I learned this from a video done by my LQS owner. It works better for me. I also recommend getting your machine professionally serviced once a year, but I can not always afford to do this. Good luck!