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Keep your sewing machine in top shape with expert maintenance tips and care routines. Perfect for beginners and pros alike.
Every week someone walks into the shop holding a Brother bobbin and a Singer machine, or the other way around, asking if they’re the same. Short answer: sometimes. Long answer: Class 15 bobbins are the standard for both brands, but…
Janome’s snap-on presser foot system is one of the most popular in the industry, and for good reason — it’s simple, reliable, and most of the feet are interchangeable across models. But “most” isn’t “all,” and I’ve seen people buy…
Feed dogs aren’t supposed to make noise. If yours are scraping, grinding, or thumping, something is rubbing that shouldn’t be. I’ve fixed hundreds of noisy feed dog issues and they almost always fall into four categories. Here’s how to diagnose…
I’ve lost count of how many machines come across my bench with timing issues that aren’t actually timing issues. The needle bar height was off the whole time. Before you touch the hook timing, check the needle bar. It’s a…
A bobbin winding mechanism that won’t spin is one of the most straightforward repairs on a sewing machine. I’d say I replace the rubber tire on these things at least once a week. Before you haul the machine to a…
Nothing causes mysterious tension problems faster than running the wrong bobbin in your machine. The three most common bobbins — Class 15, Class 15J, and Class 66 — look similar at a glance but have critical differences. I’ve pulled more…
Inserting your bobbin case backwards or in the wrong orientation is one of the most common mistakes I see in the repair shop. It causes thread nests on the bottom of fabric, tension that won’t balance no matter what you…
Feed dogs rising up through the throat plate but the fabric barely crawls? This is different from feed dogs that won’t rise at all. The mechanism is working, but something between the feed dogs and the fabric is slipping. Here’s…
Your feed dogs won’t come up and the machine won’t feed fabric. I’ve fixed this hundreds of times. Nine times out of ten it’s something simple you can check in thirty seconds. See also Diagnostic flowchart. See also Noisy feed…
Tension Spring: Function, Cleaning, and Replacement The tension spring in the bobbin case controls the lower thread tension. It is a small flat spring that presses against the thread as it leaves the bobbin. A bent or flattened tension spring…
