7:33 pm - 05/27/2012
Why is it when every time I'm nearly done a project and on a deadline to get it completed, does my sewing machine break down? This has happened with some regularity in the last year or so and it's gotten really frustrating, especially since my 'other' machine, which was taken in for repair, isn't working either.

Here's what happened last night/this morning as I was finishing an outfit I wanted to wear today. Everything was going along fine when suddenly the machine seized up, that annoying beeping sound occurred and the needle wouldn't go up or down and I had to pull the fabric out from under the presser foot and needle, finding a bird's nest of bobbin thread when I managed to get it free. I took the bobbin out, as well as the bobbin case, and used my brush to clean out some fuzz and dust, put it all back...and the same thing happened. Three or four more times. I was literally 3 seams away from finishing the project. Argh! I'm not sure how to fix this. Usually after doing it over and over again a sufficient number of times, things just start working again. I hate to have to get it serviced again, especially since I have two projects for other people that I was planning on doing this week.

Any suggestions? My machine is a Singer 2638, which came out for Singer's 150th anniversary.

ETA: Thanks for all the suggestions -- tension it is. I adjusted it and now it's sewing again. I had to wear something else yesterday but now at least I can do those projects I promised for other people this week. I will never understand how machines can be set the same as always and just suddenly not work. Cars, sewing machines... oh well, thanks again to everyone who responded.
aprilvalentine 28th-May-2012 12:49 am (UTC)
Yeah... but since it was working fine and I didn't make any changes to the tension before the jam happened, I'm not sure if that will fix it. But I guess it's worth a try. Once I got the tension correct, I don't touch it unless I have to do something that specifically requires it to be changed, just to avoid that sort of thing. My machine is fairly simple, actually. It's not computerized and just has a bunch of stitches but otherwise is fairly standard. It's about ten years old, since Singer has a new anniversary model out this year to celebrate their 60th anniversary, which is much fancier than mine, actually and looks like their old black models from the early days, but is computerized.
kkkketamine 28th-May-2012 12:58 am (UTC)
It's definitely worth a shot :) i'd never touched the tensioner on mine either, but mine had also been sitting for about a year when I worked on said project, so its hard to say. It had also worked just fine for the first couple of hours that I was using it, then it started nesting and jamming. I hope you can solve the problem!
sidndnancy 28th-May-2012 01:14 pm (UTC)
I have a Singer from the 50s and the tension will magically change on its own. I would try fixing it as well. Perhaps the discs need to be tightened so they won't slip and move while the machine is going?
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