words fail me.

But I think I better go clean my machine!!!!

In reply to Terrie yes a pop sock is a knee high.
With regard to cleaning ones machine I have heard that you shouldn't use an air aerosol either to blow the lint out, it just blows it further into the machine.
I use a cotton bud and an artists or child paint brush and when the vacuum is upstairs I will use the small nozzle on that.
Happy sewing
Anne

Rita, This is probably just another case of English being one way on that side of the pond,and it being another way over here, but whatever is a pop-sock? Is it what we here call a knee-hi?

I just asked my Bernina dealer how often I should bring mine in. She said for me, every 2-3 years. She knows I keep it cleaned and oiled. For others who do not clean it, it would be every year. I could not believe someone would let their machine get that bad. :shock: :shock: Poor little machines.

Don't do it Rosemary. I bought one and it is totally useless. There is not enough suction to do any good. At least that is my experience.

I had been thinking of using one of those dinky little hoovers they have for computers....

I went for an interview at a sewing factory once, and the policy for broken needles was they had a sheet of paper with a life sized needle printed on it, and until you could prove that all of the pieces of needle were accounted for you couldn't continue sewing.

Reetzbobeetz wrote:
What a good idea! I never would have thought of that myself.

Nancy

If you are going to use the hoover put a pop-sock over the nozzle and tape it with some masking tape. That way if anything that shouldn't come out does it will be on the sock and not in your hoover bag.

1/2" paint brush, tweezers, & thought about using a hoover - don't actually know where my nearest service engineer is.

I keep an old paintbrush (artist's type, not the kind to paint your doors) beside my machine, and clean out the bobbin area and surrounding areas almost each time I change the bobbin. Service? Once a year.

Goodness gracious. How can you not service your machine at least once a year. Margo, thanks for the link. I do service my machines once a year and they do last me longer and perform great. I, too, have broken needles while sewing and for the most part have found the pieces, sometimes not. I will definitely be looking a lot closer to find any pieces I missed.

Oh my gosh those pictures just have me dying to get my brush and pipe cleaner to work on them! It's so rewarding to get all that stuff out of the machine. Those owners are cheating themselves out of feeling so virtuous!

How often your machine goes in for a spa treatment depends on how much stitching and what type of stitching.
Remember we use batting and lint will build up in places we can't get to it. Lint build up over time can damage the gears. Kind of like water dripping on a rock.
If you do a lot of stitching (piecing and quilting) then once a year for good health.
If you don't do a lot of stitching (in frequent fashion sewing) then once every 3 or 4 years is fine.
Note: we all remark how happy we are when we change our rotary cutter blade because it's easier to cut fabric...our machines don't have to work so hard when we take care of them which means we don't have to work so hard.

Working in a dealership I get to see why its important to maintain our tools (sewing machine). My boss was working on a machine that had not been in for 20 years. The grease, belt wear out, cracked gears and so on meant a lot of work on his part! She'll get her machine back in good working order however a lot of this could have been avoided with regular maintenance.

that is the point, that i quilt a lot (much less then before) but still a lot for the average.
i clean evry day the lint with hoover, and give one drop of oil once a week.
we will see. i feel that if i patchwork it is less difficult for the machine then free hand quilting.