Monday, August 31, 2009

Sewing blues are over...

This is me right now....Granted... even though I'm feeling like an idiot. Still smiling.
I wasn't about two hours ago though, when I sat down to do surgery on my sewing machine.. opened the bottom panel and THIS is what i saw!! Holy cow!! Do you SEE ALL OF THAT?!?!? I had just cleaned my sewing machine at the beginning of the summer. June-ish. So haven't really thought about it much since then. Didn't need to... right? ha. yah. right. And I keep my bobbin casing clean - every time I change my bobbin. Didn't think there was much of a need to do more, more often! (see how clean and nice the bobbin casing is? lol) Then I'm thinkin... ok.. this is all just surface fuzz. Bound to happen when you sew as much as I do. I started digging it out. And digging more out. And even more. Holy cripes.. the bottom casing was FULL. Completely and totally FULL. No wonder my poor baby wasnt working well anymore! I'm not such a good sewing machine mama :( After getting all out that i could... tweezers, brush, a bent pin as tools... i used canned air to blow it clean and even more chunks came out. I opened up the top and got that all cleaned too... and it was looking much the same as the bottom. :( Then, figured while i was in there, I ought to oil her up a little. Looked it up in the manual (after spending half an hour looking for it) and do you know what it said??? "Your sewing machine needs to be cleaned and oiled after every 8-10 hours of use" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my gosh. erm.... yah.... never knew that..... LOL WHOOPS and I probably sew 2-4 hours a day? so what... you need to clean and oil it every other day? nooo wayy! But, I WILL be doing it much more often - every other week or so - now! Holy shamoly. That was definitely new news to me! hahaha!! Sooo glad i didnt totally ruin it! It just needed a little TLC! Looks as good as new - and amazingly enough - actually runs like brand new now too!! DUH! When was the last time you cleaned and oiled yours?? :D Am i the only ding-a-ling that didn't realize this??? xo Bren :)

11 comments:

Kathy (woolfind) said...

OH did I gasp when I saw all that lint LOL. No wonder! I did not know that about oiling a machine. That seems so often! So glad it's purring for you again...

Jacque. said...

ICK!!! Brenis! Shame on you. Well, okay, to be honest, I never used to clean out my sewing machine, either. Since I got my Janome, though, I have been. Amazing how fast it all builds up.

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...

Looking good, Bren ~ and now I must go check out mine!!! Thank you!

Unknown said...

thanks for the reminder. My machine is in the same room that I rug hook in ., Lots of wool dust. Must be more careful because my little featherweight isn't really mine it is a loaner from my sister.

whitey said...

O Gosh do I dare open mine up and peek inside??

bethany said...

I know how you feel. I did that a couple of weeks ago....ouch!! and the oil thing...double ouch...my machine works much better now that she is freshly oiled and clean!!! :) :)

WoolenSails said...

I thought I was bad, yours is worse, lol.
Now I feel better, hehe.
Gotta wait for mine to be fixed and upgraded with the new software.

Debbie

Twice Nice said...

I can totally relate! I have found that some sewing threads shred more than others too. I also found out that you should change your needle with each new project! I'm going to have to start reading those manuals.

Always Sewing said...

I too sew everyday. Time just goes by. I too forget to clean down below. Bobbin case looks good, and I keep on sewing. Every other day! Goodness not sure I can do that. I think I am with you maybe every other week.

yarnivorous said...

Well we know why your sewing machine was unhappy! I clean mine out after every quilt, sometimes more often (especially if I am working with fleece). It is really annoying when it gets upset about having too much fluff in its guts.

Joanne said...

Who knew!