Paved with Good Intentions

I had big plans for this week's blog posts. A whole bunch of quick Christmas projects were buzzing along, nearing completion, and posting, and then.....
And then my very old sewing machine began to sound as if it was working VERY hard. Far harder than it actually was working. I thought that it was high time to do some long over due routine maintenance, before a real problem occurs. It was taken apart, cleaned, and oiled with little incident (the bobbin did give me a few problems - but I was sure that was nothing). I sat down to test out the machine , run the oil through the gears, and get oil on scrap fabric, rather than on anything I wanted to keep.

Within a few stitches it was clear there was a problem. The bobbin tension was far too tight. Despite the fact that I knew the tension was already set low enough for the muslin I was sewing, I adjusted it down, as if I was sewing the most delicate of fabrics. I ran the fabric through the machine, or rather I tried to run it through the machine again, because a few stitches it, the machine simply stopped working. I would not turn over, not even by hand. Even worse, the tiny screw that holds in the bobbin case (the part that I was pretty sure was the culprit), was almost completely obscured. I spent the better part of the next two days simultaneously trying to figure out how to reach the screw with a jeweler's screw driver and stay sane. In the end a stiff piece a wire was able to reach he screw and turn it. I was able to pop the bobbin casing out, and there was a small piece of thread behind it. Fixed, right? Wrong!

The bobbin tension was too high in the next test as well. The only thing that hadn't changed, that had not been fixed, was the bobbin itself. I changed it, and it sewed beautifully. I can't tell you exactly what happened to it, but somehow it had actually increased in width.

Regardless of what happened, I am back in business. I have already gotten a few more projects finished, and hope you enjoy the days to come.