Old Style Sewers - Help Needed

moggins

I managed to pick up a rather ancient basic Singer from the bootsale this morning. It works perfectly but unfortunately I am still rubbish!!

The thread is all knotting up on the underneath of the fabric. What am I doing wrong. The instruction book is very good and comes with very easy to understand pictures so I can even thread it without much problem which is where I cam unstuck last time I owned a machine.

Please help?? I don't want this to be another purchase that sits in the corner, never used. If I can only learn how to use it I will get so much benefit from it.

foreverskint

That will be the stictch tensioning. It should have instructions in the manual on how to adjust.

moggins

That's the bit I'm especially rubbish at. The manual says there are two tensions to be adjusted, do I have to adjust the one on the machine or the one on the bobbin?

Ticklemouse

i did wonder why you were asking about OS 'sewers' - I had visions of Old Fashioned drains

However, I can't be of any help but will read this thread with interest as I can never get the tensioning right on my machine and I really need to learn how to make curtains (properly:D)

apprentice_tycoon

I'm sure Queenie will be able to give you excellent help with this but until she does I'll give it my best shot.

The general idea is to have the upper and lower threads meeting each other within the thickness of the material so if you imagine that the top of the fabric is stitched in white thread and the bottom of the fabric is in black thread they shouldn't show through on the other side, it should be white on top and black underneath, they should meet together in the thickness.
When your tension is wrong you get the black and white showing through on the wrong sides. You can correct this with the tension knob which will tighten up the thread that is going through the needle...the only real way to get this spot-on is to do it on some scrap material and go through the full range of the knob by sewing a few inches, then tighten it up a little, sew a bit more, tighten it up a bit more until you get it right. You have to do this with each change of material, a thicker fabric will need different tension to a thiner one.
It's isn't as arduous as it seems , once you have done it a couple of times you will get to know on your machine roughly what setting it needs for what fabric.

squeaky

In fact - using two colour threads while getting the hang of it with a bit of practice looks like a good idea. No?

Curry_Queen

This is one of the reasons my brand new sewing machine has sat in it's box unused for the past 6 years or so ... I'm too scared to use it!! _pale_ :doh:

I have horrible memories of mum's old machines (old treadle Singer followed by a leccy one) and the ones at school when I sewed through my fingers :eek:

I would so love to learn how to use it properly though as I'd love to make all my own curtains, bedding and even clothes if I had the confidence ... (I could do it once upon a time!)

Chipps

Ticklemouse wrote:

i did wonder why you were asking about OS 'sewers' - I had visions of Old Fashioned drains

Glad I'm not the only one who was wondering about the waste water system!

I can't help much, as I have had same problem & just had to fiddle about with first one lot of tension then the other until it was right. I sew so rarely that I can never remember which is which.

aycor

I have instruction manual for old singer sewing machines and can scan and send relevant pages if you can tell me if it is a round or long shuttle style bobbin. I also can scan pages showing correct way to thread and trouble shooting. Did you put in a new needle?

Magentasue

I used to have problems with this with my old machine. When we moved house and needed new curtains for every room, I traded it in for a new machine - cheap model, not good brand but so much easier to use. So maybe it's not you! With my new machine, I can get it out to sew something knowing the tension will be right or take a moment to adjust - result is I use it often. My old one was more trouble than it was worth. Anyway, googled and found this -seems comprehensive and user-friendly.

http://www.sewalot.com/tension_adjustments.htm

pol

If it's looping underneath, the tension on top is too tight. Take the spool case out, leaving the spool inside it and pull the thread from the spool through, it should pull easily, not jerky or tight.
Pull the thread through the tension wheel on top of machine and this should pull through about the same. It just takes a few goes to get it right as everyone else says, but the tension should be about the same on top and in the spoolcase. HTH

pol