I took my sewing machine to the husband-of-the-wife-who-knows-my-friend-who-also-is-a-member-of-the-same-quilt-guild repair guy. Without even plugging it in, he took the needle plate off and declared there was surely a piece missing in it.
No I was sure there wasn’t; that piece under there had been flapping in the wind like that for years. I clean my machine regularly and I knew what he was talking about, but I also knew that the piece he was referring to wasn’t secure since…well….I don’t even know when.
I left my machine with him and googled my machine name with the words “needle plate” behind it and guess what? Plain as day, I could see the piece that was indeed missing. I don’t know how, but my machine had been sewing just fine all these years with that little bitty piece in the middle missing but as of Sunday this week, the jig was up. It was no longer working.
He said he can order a replacement part and have me up and running again in a few days. Do you ever get used to working with something that’s broken that you don’t even notice after a while?
If I’d just won that Mary Fons quilt contest, I could’ve gone on a lot longer with a flappy broken piece because I would’ve had a new machine to replace it. Curses! Foiled Again!
What a bummer…hope the new part comes in quickly. I try to keep the lint cleaned out on my machine at least once a month, that is if I do a lot of sewing. Hope you get your machine back quickly.
I got in the habit a while back of cleaning out the bobbin area in general every time I load a new one, at least to wipe the lint brush throughout that area. Then usually on Sunday I will take off the needle plate and clean out underneath there. Then usually once a month I’ll unscrew the bottom – there’s a treasure trove of lint in there that gets built up if I forget that area.
You’ll have to “re-learn” how to stitch with a whole machine!!!! LOL!!!!
Truer words were never spoken! He gave me kudos for keeping it clean. Yay for me!
I really don’t think most realize the damage that lint can have if not cleaned out constantly! I just ‘sucks’ the lubricant right out of a mechanism adding to the ‘wear factor’ big time! Kudos for sure!!!!! with hugs…….
That is so true! It really doesn’t take long to clean it. The part I tend to forget is to take the screws out of the bottom and clean from the bottom up.
Foiled, but not down and out! Hope a “few days” really means a few days!
It turns out 3 will be more like 13 or more, but I was able to figure out how to fix my old machine so I got a little done today after all.