The Care and Feeding of Sewing Machines

It has come to my attention that the most often asked for question/instruction topic that comes up when Dara has taught classes in the past, is the question of how does someone do generic usage maintenance on a machine. As in, how often to oil, what should they look out for as problems (sounds, machine acting funny, etc), or how to change the tensions on a machine?  

Keep in mind, this would be a class that will teach the average person how to daily or weekly oiling, how to correctly tension a machine, and what problems to look out for to know when to take it for servicing. This isn't a class to teach you how to be a sewing machine mechanic or do timing of a machine. Those take a lot of practice and are probably not topics I'll be teaching for at least a few years. 

Scheduling

Please note, I will likely not post up this as an "event" in the future, and will include it as an option with my mechanic-related visits instead. Pricing starts out at $50/person if it's scheduled for during a maintenance call. Please see the Maintenance and Installation page for more details. However, in the event that enough people sign up for a class, I will schedule them via Eventbrite at the same $50/person. Please fill out the form below to sign up. 

If you have a group of people who are interested in scheduling a time and date for 4+ people to have me by someone's shop, or visit my own shop, I can schedule it at a reduced price. If it as part of an event, or an option for a booth at a convention, please let me know! I enjoy sharing the knowledge of how to make machines run well and how to prevent them from buggering up. 

What this class covers:

These will be the topics covered for most machines:

Basic Feet Used
Adjusting Tension
Adjusting Needles/Thread (Different Needles Used for Different Fabrics)
Sewing Different Fabrics
Cleaning A Sewing Machine- Oiling, Brushing Dust Out on a by-machine basis
Signs of wear and tear 

Keep in mind, this knowledge works for both home and industrial machines, it's just a question of detail and frequency for the most part. If you have a home machine you want to learn most of the ins and outs of, bring it and we can use that as the machine you learn on. 

NOTE: If you're looking to use this class for industrial machines, I will have a few industrial machines available, but they are often easier to teach at the location of the shop. 

How to schedule

If you would like to sign up for a class, or are interested in when the next class will be, please fill out the form. We prefer classes of no less than 4 people, but we can make exceptions.

​Group sign ups can get a discount, as stated above. 

If you just have questions about the class, please feel free to ask by emailing me at nash@sewingmachineguync.com.