Sewing Machine Love

Many years ago I decided to stop buying cheap sewing machines from the big box stores. Without doing much research I found a Pfaff dealer. They were in the middle of a sale and I found one that I thought would suit my needs. It isn't terribly fancy but has a huge space for quilting, and more features than I've ever managed to use.

One thing about all machines is that you do have to treat them with respect and I'll be honest and say that I don't treat this machine with the respect it deserves. I'm horrible at changing out the needle, even when I know I should. I fail to clean out the dust bunnies often enough. I ask it to work long hours without a rest. To the machine's credit, it never lets me down. Ever. I've had this machine for almost ten years and other than the light bulb becoming wobbly and flickering (fixed by my technician, not me) it has never had a problem. April 1st, the beginning of a new month, a new quarter, and time to do the maintenance I keep putting off. This poorly lit photo is what it looked like when I opened it up. Pretty horrible, really.

I plucked, and brushed, and moved the dust bunnies from the inside to the outside. I replaced the needle, and said "I'm sorry" at least a hundred times. See that pile of lint to the right? Yep, that's what I dug out of the machine.

Cleaned, dusted, a fresh topstitch needle, and we were ready to get to work on a full day of projects.

I tried to find a single cleaning tutorial that I thought would be helpful but there are just so many out there. Use your search engine of choice to learn more about sewing machine maintenance that matches your machine, and make sure you refer to your owner's manual before adding any lubricant to your machine. Some machines (older mechanical machines with mostly metal parts) can be lubricated with sewing machine oil without a worry of damaging the machine (I oil my long arm with every bobbin change). More modern machines often have oil-free bushings and you'll end up with your machine in the shop if you oil something that doesn't need it, or put oil in the wrong spot.