Help! I'm getting old and so is my sewing machine!
#52
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 1,472
I used to use clip-on magnifier glasses I get from nancysnotions.com. Now I have a self threading machine! The magnifiers are like $17.00, but are a life saver, thus worth every penny!! I use them for "frogging" (rip it, rip it) now. Best of luck!
#53
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: AR/NM
Posts: 358
I learned how to thread a front to back needle this way. I put my left thumbnail behind the needle tip and gently press it slightly forward. Then I can see thru the needle eye (I never use nail polish) and with a fresh cut of the thread so that it is not fraying, I can just push it thru. Very seldom have to try it twice. When I bought another sewing machine, I was shocked to see that the needle gets threaded left to right! All of my other machines are front to back.
#55
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Davis, CA
Posts: 81
Looks like this has been a helpful post for many! Here's what I've tried after shopping yesterday: the white behind the needle--doesn't work too well for me, but I think it has to do more with how low the needle sits at it's highest point while in the machine and the fact that it threads side to side and not front to back. I bought a Dritz needle threader with magnifier which is just the typical thin wire and a cheap plastic magnifier that doesn't work better than my reading glasses. However, I could feel the wire pop into the needle as I scraped it across the needle, so then I was able to get it into the hole. I also purchased the Dritz machine needle inserter & threader:
http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-Machine-...eedle+threader
After fiddling with it a while, it works quite well. The first review on the amazon site has great photos of how the reviewer uses it (she claims the instructions that come with the device aren't very good, so she added the photos to help other be able to use it) Everyone gave it good reviews; it's about the size of a small seam ripper.
So, for me, I will use the machine needle threader first and the others as backup. Oh ya, and I was thinking that depending on the machine, a piece of white first aid tape might fit on the shaft behind the needle then you wouldn't have to have a piece of paper around. Of course, the idea of painting white on it would be useful too and not as bulky.
http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-Machine-...eedle+threader
After fiddling with it a while, it works quite well. The first review on the amazon site has great photos of how the reviewer uses it (she claims the instructions that come with the device aren't very good, so she added the photos to help other be able to use it) Everyone gave it good reviews; it's about the size of a small seam ripper.
So, for me, I will use the machine needle threader first and the others as backup. Oh ya, and I was thinking that depending on the machine, a piece of white first aid tape might fit on the shaft behind the needle then you wouldn't have to have a piece of paper around. Of course, the idea of painting white on it would be useful too and not as bulky.
Last edited by clevermom3kids; 06-13-2015 at 12:50 PM.
#56
#57
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Calif. Desert
Posts: 239
I bought a Dritz Machine Needle inserter & Threader and I find it works really well. I can get the front to back threaded but the FW was a problem. This gadget pushes the thread through, just love it!
Ethel
Ethel
#58
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 136
A board member recently posted that she keeps a white plastic spoon at her machine to hold behind the needle when threading her machine. Works! I was always losing the piece of white paper I'd used forever, so off I'd go to find another. The spoon has a nice handle and sits next to my thread nippers to my left. So now it's my white spoon and readers. So far so good, my eyes are definitely getting worse.
#59
This is a trick Dusty Farrell showed us at one of his classes.
Trim the end of your thread so it's clean. Then take it and slide it down the groove of the needle. It will pop into the eye every time. Every once in a while I have trouble threading one of my vintage machines and this has worked every time. The longarm... well you can practically throw it through from 20 paces, but I sometimes use this method too if I'm being lazy.
Trim the end of your thread so it's clean. Then take it and slide it down the groove of the needle. It will pop into the eye every time. Every once in a while I have trouble threading one of my vintage machines and this has worked every time. The longarm... well you can practically throw it through from 20 paces, but I sometimes use this method too if I'm being lazy.
#60
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,833
here is the gadget that came with one of my machines. http://www.amazon.com/KingSo-Threade.../dp/B00STDMKBW
it works much better than i thought it would
it works much better than i thought it would
Leslie
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