I've Repaired Sewing Machines for 44 Years — These 9 Everyday Habits KILL Them Faster Than Age

Over and over, a customer set a machine on my counter and said, "she's just old, it's time." I'd take the throat plate off and find a sheet of gray felt packed under the feed dogs. She wasn't old. In 44 years at the bench, most machines people called dead weren't worn out. An everyday habit had jammed them, struck them, gummed them or clogged them.

After 44 years at the repair bench, I'm walking you through the 9 everyday habits that kill sewing machines faster than age, and the cheap fix for each one.

In this video:
1. Never changing the needle
2. Turning the handwheel away from you
3. Pushing or pulling the fabric
4. Sewing right over the pins
5. Cleaning with canned air
6. The wrong oil, too much oil, or none at all
7. Yanking a thread jam
8. Storing the machine in a closet, attic or garage
9. Skipping the service until she quits

Along the way I cover sewing machine maintenance, how to clean a sewing machine, how often to service it, skipped stitches, thread jams, bird's nests and timing problems.

Tell me in the comments where you're watching from, and which brand of machine you sew on. And how do you clean yours: brush, vacuum or can?

If you're sewing on your mother's machine, or you're the one everybody calls when the bobbin acts up, this channel is for you. Subscribe, so the fix is already in your head before your machine starts making a noise you don't like.

So before you decide she's just old, put a fresh needle in her tonight, write the date on the needle case, and give that handwheel one slow turn toward you.

#SewingMachineRepair #SewingMachineMaintenance #SewingTips #SewingMachines