Need a new sewing machine? Here is a list of the best sewing machine under $200! Great beginner sewing machines with good quality and a great price.
8 larger-sized sewing machines every quilter should consider when they're ready to upgrade. quilting machine, larger sewing machine, industrial sewing machine, large throat space, large harp sewing machine, Juki 2010, High speed quilting machines, Janome 6500, Brother 1500, Brother PQ1500, Janome 1600, Singer S18, Janome 7700, Singer 9960, Janome Horizon
When someone mentions a home sewing machine, most people immediately think of Singer. Indeed, many Americans saw their grandmothers use this machine type when they were children. Even though the first Singer sewing machine appeared ... Read more
Sewing Machine Mat is to keep sewing machine in place, protects the surface underneath, and reduce vibration. The pockets are to store your sewing tools.
If you've inherited an antique sewing machine, how can you identify the model and the mystery parts left in its drawers?
You found an old sewing machine now it's time to make it work again. Learn all about vintage sewing machine repair.
Many of us swear by specific products. I’m a fan of many of them because what works on one brand of an antique sewing machine, is terrible on another (such as
Looking for the best sewing machine for leather and heavy duty materials? Click for reviews of the top machines for every budget
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DIY Sewing Machine Mat or Cover This is a mat or cover with pockets for your sewing machine. It is convenient because you can put it under ...
Looking for the best heavy duty sewing machine? Check out this comparison of four different picks for different budgets and sewing machine needs!
Diagnose and solve poor sewing machine tension with this step-by-step checklist.
you’re new to sewing, you may have just started with the standard presser foot that comes on the machine and haven’t yet changed it out.
In this post, I'll list all of the resources I've found helpful on restoring vintage sewing machines, including blogs, forums, youtube channels, and shops.
If you have ever opened up your sewing machine to poke around in all the moving parts, you know that these are complicated appliances! Whether you want the confidence to repair your sewing machine or
Sewing Machine Mat is to keep sewing machine in place, protects the surface underneath, and reduce vibration. The pockets are to store your sewing tools.
Look what I managed to score on craigslist! I am doing a happy dance right now. It was advertised at $40 but I got it for much, much less!!! Can you believe I got it for $25 ???????? When I picked it up it was in much worse condition than this. The actual machine was all seized up and the needle wouldn't even move, some WD40 and a husband got it moving smoothly. We got the dremmel out to polish up the metal parts in certain places, and it started to shine a little bit with a good old clean. I also applied some Old English Furniture Almond Oil and this has really helped with the cracking veneer. But it still needs a lot of attention and tender loving care. The bobbin cover is missing so I need to hunt down one of them and as it is a treadle machine I also need to find a belt for it, so if anyone has refurbished one of these cabinets/singer machine I would really appreciate your feedback/tips/tricks. The cabinet the sewing machine is housed in is another story, the close up shows how the wood is blistering and cracking, it looks much worse in real life. I first thought about completely removing the veneer from the top and maybe just sanding down the wood underneath and re staining it. But, I asked Katy over at Mom and her Drill for some advice as I had seen that she refurbished a piece of furniture with a similar problem and she offered the following advice: "put a sheet on the desk and apply a hot iron, it *may* reactivate the glue and make the veneer lay down flat. You would pile something heavy on top til it dries. If this doesn't work there other methods, involving cutting the bubbles and squirting glue underneath. I was too lazy for all of that, so I just refinished it how it was and I'm going to try the hot iron trick". Any suggestions on how to repair, replace the missing pieces of veneer?
Explore Sohaib AK's 111 photos on Flickr!
If you've inherited an antique sewing machine, how can you identify the model and the mystery parts left in its drawers?
I posted about the 3 vintage Singers that followed me home a couple of weeks ago; now I thought I'd give a step-by-step of how I do a basic clean up on one of the full-size ladies. My techniques have been gleaned from research at places like the Yahoo Vintage Singers group, David McCallum's Featherweight DVDs & books, various posters at Pattern Review, and lots of experimentation on the old machines that have found their way to my house. Some of those experiments were not so successful - like rubbing your machine down with Gojo = epic fail, or dunking an entire machine in a tub of kerosene = epic waste of time, energy and $$$ (yes, people actually DO recommend those techniques!). Folks do have their own favorite products & methods; what follows works for me. :-) Here's Gabrielle - the machines belonged to a French woman, so they all got French names. (....yes, of course I name my machines. Don't you?). She's the 1926 66 as she looked when she came in the door. Well, actually, this is after I removed her from her treadle cabinet, which needs way more refurbishing than she did, but that's another story.... She really wasn't too bad - lots of dust, a little rust, a few scratches & some grimey areas, hand wheel was sticky, but I saw no serious issues, and the decals were really in very good shape. And hey, it's a treadle! A totally mechanical workhorse - not even any electrical wires to give concern! It's hard to find an unfixable surprise with one of these beauties :) Here are the tools of the trade that I use: Start with an old towel or cloth as your work surface. Then, clockwise from left: OXO Brite (the way cheaper version of OxyClean) to clean up the metal bits. Maguiar's Scratch X - Fabulous first step to remove those fine scratches and built up grime. A good Carnauba Wax WD-40 - Good cleaner for the gears & moving metal bits inside the machine (more about this later) Sewing Machine Oil. Rags Sewing Machine Lube (Necessary for a machine w/ a motor - I didn't use any on this one) Screw Drivers. Other ingredients that didn't make it into the pic: Q-tips, small cleaning brush, tweezers, little bowls to hold all the little bits as you remove them, a camera or piece of paper to document any parts you dismantle until you know by heart which little spring & screw goes where, a good non-scratch Metal Polish, and a good manual for whatever machine you're working on. By the way, even if you have the original manual for your machine, go check this site out for great, picture-heavy service manuals. I have all of the info printed out for every model I own, and it is indispensable!: Tools for Self Reliance I seriously can't recommend this site highly enough! Here's Gabrielle's gorgeous spoked hand wheel - there's something about these old spoked wheels - I just love them! : OK, let's get started! Step one is to dust her off - you can even do a wipe down with some gentle dish soap if you have a really grimy baby on your hands. I then go straight to the metal bits, & start removing them. USE THE RIGHT SIZE SCREWDRIVER. Sorry for shouting, but this is how screws get stripped - make sure your screwdriver slot is a match for the slot in the screw - life will be so much easier if you just get into the habit of doing this right off the bat. Need I add the infamous phrase "Ask me how I know?" ;D Oh, and a note about vintage Singer screws: each one is unique & unusual, and you will NOT find a replacement in a hardware store. In fact, the only place to find a replacement for a missing screw is off another vintage Singer. Translation: do NOT lose your screws! I usually start by simply removing the bobbin cover plates. What you find under here will tell you a lot about how well the machine was maintained. Remove any threads & fluff that you find with your tweezers & brush. I give this area a good blast with WD-40 & let it do its thing with all the gunk that is invariably built up here. Then I'll wipe it down, removing any excess WD-40. A note on WD-40: This is is NOT a substitute for SM oil, but it is perfectly safe to use on your metal parts. It's an excellent cleaner - just don't get it on any rubber bits, & wipe up any excess. Once I have the bobbin area cleaned, I'll start removing all of the other metal parts. Remove the hand wheel by unscrewing the chrome disc in the center. There are a number of different bobbin winder types. If you have one that looks like this, PROCEED WITH CAUTION! There are a few types that have a spring which will fly across the room as soon as it's released. When it does this, go find it (You're doing this in daylight, right?) Then curse a bit when you realize you have no clue just how, exactly, it fit into the slots & holes that it just sprang out of. Don't worry, you'll figure it out. Eventually. Can you see the little spring just behind that forked bit? The bit that looks like cute lil bunny ears (but is really devil's horns in disguise?) That's the spring I'm talking about. Just so's you know.... Here are the removed metal pieces, which are ready for their spa soak. Face plate, back plate, bobbin cover plates, tension parts (this is another section to document as you dismantle it, and/or have good manual pictures to follow), the hand wheel parts, and lots of little screws. I kept all of the bobbin winder parts completely separate in this case. Plop some OXO Brite into a bowl that's large enough to hold all of your metal bits, (JUST the metal bits...don't add anything that has lacquer.....and, um.....don't ask me how I know about that one either.....), add boiling water, then let your metal bits soak for 10-20 minutes. Remove the metal bits, rinse them THOROUGHLY, then dry them - THOROUGHLY. If you do this with SM feet (I do) or anything with tiny crevices that might hold moisture, I suggest using a hair dryer to make SURE they are COMPLETELY dry. You know how rust happens? Now is a good time to go over the show pieces (face plate, etc.) with some metal polish. Although the OXO does a pretty thorough job, if your machine is really old, the metal polish will give it that extra oomph. All shined up! While everything is soaking, you can go after the gears & moving parts. I clean up any really filthy, gunky parts with WD40. (Don't forget to dry it well) Then start feeding. :) Follow your manual instructions regarding the oil spots, but mostly it's common sense. Just feed a drop of oil (just a drop - don't overdo it....) to any area that has moving parts that rub against each other. Under the machine: On top: Inside the face plate: Turn your wheel & feel & listen as everything starts to loosen up & glide - such a gratifying feeling! Now it's time to start with the massage portion of the spa treatment :) Bring out the Scratch X, & put a small dollop on your massage cloth (this is where my old tshirts live out their life): Now, gently (don't rub hard) massage the cream on to the lacquer. Do this on small portions at a time - maybe half the bed (or less, depending on how dirty your machine is. Don't let the cream dry, & don't do it for too long. This isn't scary stuff, but you can overdo it. (I took it to its limits on a machine I knew would need a total repaint job, just to see what the limits are -- you can rub TOO hard, and you can rub too long, but it really did take some elbow grease to overdo it) Just treat it like a gentle face cream that you don't want to use too much of, and you'll be fine. Don't rub too hard on the decals. Wipe it completely dry, give it a good rub to bring out the shine, and move on to the next section. One treatment is enough - you'll never need to do it again. After the Scratch X Treatment - looking pretty good!: Next step is your wax job. I like doing 2 (or maybe 3) coats, with thin layers of wax. Apply wax with a soft cloth, let it dry, rub it down well. Ahhhhh........... now you can REALLY feel and see the difference! Put all of her jewelry and make-up back on, and she's ready to roll! For comparison: Before After Now, I just need to get a new treadle belt, clean up the cabinet, move her into her working spot, and get treadling! I'm a bit torn about whether or not to wait until I have the time & energy to refinish her cabinet, or if I should just give it a basic cleaning so that I can get started sooner - I think I won't be able to wait.... I'll be doing a post about cleaning up Gabrielle's sister, Colette, the Featherweight, soon (I hope!). Feathers do have a few other steps - they're special, you know....... Meanwhile, here's to providing good, loving homes to all our vintage orphans!
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You need to be careful when oiling your precious sewing machine because too much application could attract dust and lint, gumming up the machine and even rendering it dysfunctional. Get familiar with sewing machine oil ingredients, minerals, and lubricants with this post and keep your machine at its best level!
This is a mat or cover with pockets for your sewing machine. It is convenient because you can put it under the sewing machine and take out the necessary things right away. And if you cover the sewing
Need to identify a mystery presser foot? This list includes 15 presser feet and PHOTOS to help you learn the most common feet used in sewing.
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Singer sewing machines have existed since 1851. From the cast iron treadle-operated machines before the advent of electricity, to the iron “modern” machines of the 1950’s, many a seamstress has owned a Singer.
We take you through the basics of how to use a sewing machine. Watch this video for tips on getting started with your sewing machine
Not sure about how to go about restoring a vintage sewing machine? This is how I restored a 1936 Singer 201-2.
Hems are a great way to finish garments and household items. Learning how to sew a hem with a sewing machine can take a bit of practice.
Click HERE to download a printable version of the Sewing Machine Troubleshooting illustration. As seen in the Dec/Jan 2014 issue of Sew News: sewnews.com. Illustration by Dustin Resch: dustinresch.com. To purchase the Dec/Jan 2014 issue
Free downloads and designer projects for sewing, quilting, crochet, and knitting enthusiasts.
If you've been wanting to learn how to sew but don't know how to use a sewing machine yet, you need to check out Starting to Sew, a free self-paced online class for beginners.
Click the Link Below to See Other Models! We are often in awe of vintage and antique sewing machines. Their construction is often superior and many are beautifully decorated. Bradbury’s High Arm Family Sewing Machine dates to around 1896. Early versions were quite beautiful with decorative gold filigree decals. Notice the company trade mark – an …
Looking to buy a new machine? We have listed the 25 best sewing machines for beginners, quilters, or embroiders. This list is for you.
