Old Style Sewers - Help Needed

Curry_Queen

Well, I've just had a rummage under my bed to find the sewing machine box, and it turns out I bought it a lot longer ago than I thought! ... Feb 1997 :eek:

I've not actually got it out, but checked a label that was on the box and it's a Toyota E300 model ... does anyone here have one of these and is it relatively easy to use?

moggins

Oh my lord!! I've started another one haven't I? LOL. Okay, I'm going to practice with some scraps of fabric tomorrow and see if I can get this right. I didn't realise you had to change the tension with different fabrics, I think that's where I've been going wrong.

Come on CQ, if I can do this so can you. I got thrown out of needlework at school

Curry_Queen

Hey, you should be proud of yourself for inspiring us to get going with these things! Left down to me the poor thing would be destined for the museum before I got any use out of it ... if it isn't already LOL!

No doubt I'm going to need new curtains when I move, and I've already spotted some lovely fabrics on Ebay going very cheap, so time to get finger out and learn how to use this little beastie. Oh, and DS starts needlework next term too, so with his help and some encouragement from all you lovely OS'rs I might actually achieve something! :T :j

culpepper

moggins if you cant get it right with the top tension on any setting,it might be the spool tension is too loose.If so,turn the screw on the bobbin case 1/4 turn clockwise to tighten and try again.Write down what you did,if still to loose turn 1/4 turn again etc.check the bobbin is in the case the right way round.
Another thing that can muck up the stitches is lint in the workings where the bobbin goes.You can clean it out with an old clean paint brush,it doesnt take long to build up.
If the machine is not threaded correctly it will knot aswell so there are a lot of things to check.

Caterina

Hi all

I am glad for a few things in this thread:

1- I also thought OS Sewers was about the pipes that run under our toilets!

2 - I am not the only one scared of my sewing machine!

OK, now see if I can put any helpful bit of response. I have a very old reconditioned Bernina so not sure how the Singer works, but in mine the two tension settings are indicated by a button that can point in one of two directions.

One side points towards a picture of a grid, a bit like this # but with three boxes by three boxes (hope it makes sense), the other direction has a zigzag pattern design. This function has some sort of exotic name that I cannot remember, but got to do with tension.

Apparently unless you are doing buttonholes (which need your button to point towards the grid picture), you should always have your button pointing towards the zigzag.

I hope this has made some sense and I haven't created further confusion!

On a happy note, today I managed for the first time in my life to use this machine in a useful way: I stitched the seam of my son's pants' bottom, which had split! I feel sooooo proud!

Lots of love and best wishes to all of you scared-sewing-machine-owners!

Caterina

tootles_2

The usual tension for the top thread should be about halfway round the dial, if its calibrated its between 4 and 5. If its ravelling underneath it is your top tension thats at fault, try turning the dail to the left as far as it will go, then back to about halfway round the dial, then sew with the machine and keep checking the back when the stitches are equal on the back and the front its right.

Be careful if you have to alter the bobbin tension, its very easy to make a pigs ear of it, if you hold then bobbin in the case and pull out a thread, hold the thread and give it a shake, the bobbin should drop just a little, make sure that the bobbon thread is coming off the case properly, the thread should be coming off from the top and pull down through the little split in the case, then give it a sharp pull so the thread goes under the tension spring.When you put it into the machine hold the bobbin case with the spring that locks the bobbin in the case and stops it falling out, turn and press unitl you hear it click into place,the little arm on the bobbin case should be at the top and lock into a groove on the ring which holds the bobbin mechanics in place. Then thread up the machine and put it through the needle, turn the wheel. so the needle goes down and brings up the bottom thread....when you start sewing hold the threads to the side so they do not ravel at the begining of your sewing.

If the worst comes to the worst it woll cost you around £40 to have the macine serviced...... get yourself a good book about sewing.........look on the internet... there is lots about sewing machines etc, Singer have a site I think its https://www.singer.co.uk.

Curry_Queen

tootles wrote:

When you put it into the machine hold the bobbin case with the spring that locks the bobbin in the case and stops it falling out, turn and press unitl you hear it click into place,the little arm on the bobbin case should be at the top and lock into a groove on the ring which holds the bobbin mechanics in place.

Ohhhhhhhh :eek: ... the memories come flooding back _pale_


I always had problems with my bobbins

Happyroly

Curry_Queen wrote:

No doubt I'm going to need new curtains when I move, and I've already spotted some lovely fabrics on Ebay going very cheap, :T :j

Don't know if there is a store near you, but I find the curtain material in Dunelm to be very reasonably priced and they usually have lots of different patterns from which to choose.

Re sewing machines - I too have had problems with thread tension in past (mine is a Janome machine, several years old) and tend to just keep making minor adjustments to top and bottom threads until problem is solved. Some very helpful posts here though.
Happyroly

chickadee

Once you get the hang of it curtains are so easy to make! You just point the machine and set off. There are no fiddly bits, it is all just hemming really.

Another hint on the thread knotting up underneath, many sewing machines do this if you don't start off correctly. When you start a new line of stitching, line up the fabric to where you want to start sewing, lower the 'foot' (the thing that keeps the fabric flat - the needle goes up and down in the middle of this) then and this is the important bit, lower the needle into the fabric using the hand wheel at the side. Then you can set off using the foot pedal. If I'm lazy and start my line of sewing when the needle is out of the fabric, I always get a loopy knotted mess underneath.

Hope you understand this.

arkonite_babe

It's well seeing I've had a very long day, I mis read the title of this thread and thought you meant sewers as in underground waste water pipes!