Machine Safety Tips

 If you have to look away from your sewing space for any reason (a distraction, a sneeze, a pet, or a child) stop sewing immediately!  Despite the fact that the needle only goes up and down in a very small space, it doesn't take a moment to lose track of where that space is.

And let's be honest, you absolutely can; you just shouldn't.  The amount of needle shards and bent pins that have been found in machines, not to mention damage to the needle plate, the hook point and stresses put through the top shaft of the machine every time it jams.  It's really not worth it.

With some presser feet, it is deceptively hard to tell if it is in the the up or not and the behavior of the machine when it tries to sew with the foot up can be very alarming, especially if the needle hits the foot and and breaks or detaches the foot.

If your ankle starts to feel discomfort from the angle of your pedal, or the chair you're using isn't supportive or the right height, or you're squished right up into the corner of a space to sew, maybe it's time to negotiate for more of the kitchen table.  Don't spend hours hunched or uncomfortable.  Actually work out ways to make your experience comfortable and, down the line, not hurt you permanently.

Using eye protection feels like an outside/workshop kind of a thing but if people are going to insist on sewing near wire, beads, sequins, puff paint, leather, pleather or upholstery fabrics, it really is best practice to protect yourself for when the needle inevitably hits something it can't cope with and fails, often spectacularly.

There are a number of behaviours we see that exacerbate needles breaking and we can tell if you're doing some of them, just by looking.  First, when feeding the fabric through the machine, try not to "help" by dragging it from the back or pushing from the front. This can bend the needle as it goes up and down and it can eventually hit the plate behind the hole and smash.  The same goes for hanging on too hard to the fabric in front and not letting it feed smoothly, then all the damage is before the hole.  Any damage around the hole like this can cause the thread to shred or even to catch when reversing and in some cases can cause damage to parts under the plate causing more expensive problems.  If you do this on an overlocker is can even knock the chaining pins off the plate cause bad stitches to form.  

Another good way to break needles is by sewing through tough or hard objects.  For leather and pleather, we recommend a leather needle and a roller foot as the best combo for feeding and sewing nicely with the least broken needles.  If you're sewing sequined fabrics, change the needle as often as you dare, as they will blunt and break extremely quickly.  If you are sewing bridal or evening fabrics with glass beads, cut out the garment pieces and then gently smash off the beads from the seam allowance with a hammer, usually under a tea-towel to stop the bead shards from becoming a problem.  If you are sewing buchram, millinery wire or thick felt, just - be careful and wear your goggles!

If the machine tumbles or is pulled off the sewing surface by pets or children, either the machine can be permanently bent out of shape or the weight of the machine can hit whomever did the pulling.  Even if the machine looks fine the top shaft might have bent or the needle goes down the wrong hole, or doesn't even line up at all. 

The other problem is if you tangle up the pedal or power cords and rip them out of the machine, it can cause the contacts to bend or break, then the power or control are no longer reliable and parts need to be replaced.