Video Transcript for: Sewing Machine Basics

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Marci Baker: Hi, welcome to Quilt with Marci Baker. I’m here at Eddie’s Quilting Bee in Sunnyvale California and Dawn here is helping me, she is the co-owner with her husband Eddie. I was asking her some questions, she had been in the industry for over 30 years and works with customers on a daily basis answering their questions and showing them the different parts of the machine.  We’re here is to talk with you about some basics someone would need to know who has a machine that was given to them, one they might have bought at a store, or that they are borrowing.

What are the basics to know just to make sure the machine works successfully for them?

Dawn: There are three big basic items that person should be aware of whether they are getting ready to use a machine, whether it be a new machine or an old machine.

The first is to have a brand new needle in it. Needles get dull, people don’t realize this but “New project, new needle” is our saying today. The second piece would be to have  good quality thread, there are lots of different threads out there and we want something that is pretty much lint free. You can always take a spool of thread and simply look at it, this is a good quality thread here.  I’m not seeing any fuzzy’s on it.

Marci: It’s a cotton poly and if it’s got some fuzz then it’s not a not going to be a good thread.

Dawn: Right, it is definitely going to affect your stitch quality. The next piece of information would be that you want your machine to be threaded properly. If the machine is not threaded properly then it’s not going to sew and it’s going to be jamming.

Marci: Okay and we want to be sewing and not jamming the machine.

Dawn: Right, that is correct.

Marci: I’ve been sewing for over 30 years and I remember learning to sew on a basic machine, about this age, I would jam the machine and it was very frustrating at the end of the project. So figuring this out and giving some tips so people are successful in their sewing, that’s our goal today.

Marci: So you mentioned the needle, but before we get to that, let’s just talk about some basic parts of the sewing machine.

Dawn: Okay, so we have the same basic parts on all machines.

• Hand Wheel
• Spindle
• Thread Guides
• Thread Tension
• Take-up Lever
• Needle
• Presser Foot Lifter
• Presser Foot that holds the fabric.
• Feed Teeth or Feed Dogs
• Bobbin and Bobbin Case

Marci: Now we know what we are talking about as we go into detail here.

Dawn: That is correct.

Marci: So we have the needles, what do you want to tell us about that.

Dawn: You always want to start with a fresh needle, “New project, new needle”.   I like to say that we think of the needle as a pencil, the pencil dulls over time. We don’t know how long that needles been in there so we are going to put in a new needle for each project.

Marci: I’ve herd people say that they didn’t know that the needle was changeable and they are sewing on their grandmother’s machine and they haven’t changed the needle out. So we do want to change the needle.

Dawn: Right, we change the needle and don’t wait till it breaks.

Marci: Okay, and what about types of sewing machine needles, I see a lot of different packages.

Dawn: There are a lot of different types of needles, which is wonderful. You want to use the proper needle for the appropriate fabric. So there actually are light weight needles, there are heavy weight needles.

Marci: Okay, so we’re doing sewing silk, we are going to use a light weight needle and if we are doing denim or jeans….

Dawn: We want to use a heavy sized needle.

Marci: Okay, so get the right size needle for what we are sewing.

Dawn: That is right.

Marci: So when we are installing the needle into the machine is there a right way and a wrong way to put the needle in?

Dawn: There definitely is. I have here a super sized model of a needle.  You can see we have a round side and we have a flat side. So we need to install our needle in a certain way. The type of machine that you own will determine where the flat side goes. On this machine, the bobbin is located on the front side of the machine, so the flat side will then go to the back of the machine.

Marci: And most machines are set up this way.

Dawn: Most machines are set up this way.

Marci: So the flat side of the needles goes toward the back of the machine. Even though the piece that holds the needle in is over to the side.

Dawn: That’s correct. And it depends on where your bobbin is located as a drop in or as a front loaded bobbin.

Marci: And they can look at their manual. If they have a manual it’s going to tell them?

Dawn: Exactly.

Dawn: This is an older machine and here our bobbin goes in from the side so we are going to put the flat side toward inside of the machine.

Marci: Okay, if I’m putting the needle in, the flat side will be facing toward you. That sounds great.

Dawn: If our needle is not in correctly, we will not be sewing.

Marci: Okay, so get your needle in correctly, you mentioned thread. How important is that?

Dawn: Thread is very important, we want to start with a good quality thread.

Marci: How do we know if it is good quality thread?

Dawn: You want to take a look at it and I don’t want to see any fuzzy’s on it.  That thread fuzz will negatively affect our stitching quality.

Marci: Whenever I open the bobbin case and pull out the bobbin, a bunch of lint comes with it.  Is that where that comes from?

Dawn: That’s where that comes from.

Marci: Okay and that affects the machine…

Dawn: That affects the machine and it will also affect our how our stitches look.

Marci: How about the thread I got with grandma’s machine?

Dawn: I’m sorry to tell you but you might want to throw that thread out.

Marci: Or just display it, if i’s on wooden spools!

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