Sewing machine guru?

[TC Chris]

I know we have various appliance fans here. How about sewing machines? I've got a Singer model 357, the home model, that I had lubed up and re-timed last winter. Sunday I went out to the shop to work on my sail cover and it was on strike. Kept giving me HUGE loops on the bottom. I adjusted timing again and tried fiddling with thread tension but no luck.

So I dragged out old faithful, a 1920s or '30s "New England Queen," an old cast-iron device that I stitched car upholstery on. It breezed through multiple layers of Sunbrella and solved my problem, but I had been hoping to do zig-zag, which is commonly used in canvas work on boats.

I'll go out tonight after dinner and stitch up some exercise garb--winter trekking pants that I wear for the after-work hike--before putting the old machine away. It's a sturdy old thing with a friction drive (rubber wheel turns the handwheel) and a shuttle-style bobbin.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

CORRECTION: The "new" Singer is a model 457.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

All I know about a sewing machine is what I learned watching mom and grandma use theirs. Mom had an electric Singer, grandma had a treadle model, but they were a lot alike. Seems to me that if you get a big loop instead of a tight stitch, the foot would not be timed to the needle. The needle comes up too fast, in relation to the foot, which pushes the fabric thru the machine, spacing the stitches. Unlikely that the needle would be sticky, since it is directly powered by the motor/crankshaft. Could there be sticky lube, preventing the foot from sliding freely? Just a thought and a WAG. Good luck......

[TC Chris]

I didn't describe it very well. There are big loops of thread hanging under the fabric. I tried fiddling with tension but did not have much luck.

I've got an old cast-iron Singer down where the Chevy lives. It was from an elderly neighbor who died. Nobody wanted it so I raised my hand. It only shortcoming is that the speed control is a knee-actuated lever. You've gotta be sitting down and in the right position.

Most of those old electric machines used carbon-pile voltage control: lots of discs with a device to compress or release them, changing resistance in series with the motor. The old Singer may need some attention to that part. My "New England Queen" came with a variable resistance-wire foot pedal. It selected one of several different resistances as you stepped down on it. I had a carbon-pile foot pedal from an old surgical saw and substituted that because it's continuously variable. But I think all of them were designed as treadle machines and then just adapted for electric service with add-on motors.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

We are talking about the same thing, perhaps I didn't explain myself well. If the tension control didn't change it any, that lend credence to my WAG. The tension controls the timing of the foot piece, does it not? If the foot piece is sticking for unknown reason(s), that would affect the timing, yes?

Boy, it's been a long time, but......Don't I remember the sequence of a stitch being you put the tension bar down, which holds the fabric against the foot. The needle comes down, thru the fabric, goes back up, the foot piece moves the fabric to tighten the stitch. Either the needle is coming down so early the foot piece can't move far enough to tighten the stitch or the foot piece is sticking/poorly timed too late to move in time to tighten the stitch. Am I all wet here?

[TC Chris]

The really important part of the timing is getting the needle drop coordinated with the hook that snags the upper thread and locks it around the bottom thread. The little foot device is mechanically linked to the rotating hook. If one is right, they both are. And the foot advances things nicely. The zig-zag looks great on top. Then you flip it and see all these big hanging loops.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Mom used to oil something down by the bobbin on a regular basis. Wonder if she lubed the part that potentially could be causing your trouble? If the tension doesn't help, either the tension is not working, or tension is not the issue. Can the needle on that machine get out of time with the foot?

[Firedome]

Can't suggest an answer, sewing machines aren't in my vintage appliance wheelhouse, sorry. I leave those to my wife.

[hermitcrab]

All I know about sewing machines is .... when the wife drags it out... I leave the house... she turns into the most foul mouthed drill Sargent on the planet when it screws up on her...and she has scissors within arms length

[electra225]

My mom was in her glory when she used her sewing machine. She'd have me put on a stack of Mitch Miller records. We'd sing, she'd sew, and we would have a ball. If she ever started humming "Have Thine Own Way Lord" you knew it was about to hit the fan.