Sewing Machine Mechanism
Someone please help before I put this sewing machine through the window!!!?
Im using an old Lotus SP, and it works great most of the time, however it takes notions sometimes (today being one of them) and I really can’t work out what im doing wrong. It was working fine until the bobbin ran out of thread, i changed it, then basically what has been happening since is my top thread is getting caught around the mechanism that rotates around the bobbin. For about 3 stitches its fine, then instead of slipping around the bobbin mechanism it gets caught. The machine wont go forward anymore, and ends in a big knot on the fabric. What am i doing wrong? Sorry im not a very experienced sewer, so i hope someone can make sense of what I have tried to explain and can help before i go crazy lol. Many thanks and best wishes 
Ooh! Lucky you! Lotuses are great little machines! If you want to throw it, I’ll catch! (They’re highly prized class machines, for one thing.)
Your problem is probably due to a threading error or an error in the getting the bobbin properly in place.
Start by pulling the bobbin out, unsnarling the thread and taking it completely off the machine, top and bottom. Give the machine a quick cleaning and a drop of oil per the manual (sewing machine oil only, please, not 3-in1 or WD40 — one gums up and the other evaporates).
http://www.sewingonline.co.uk/instructions/elnalotus/
Check the winding of the bobbin — is it evenly wound and not lumpy or loopy? If so, reinstall the bobbin according to the instructions in the manual. (Have you found the little rubber stopper on a windup string for retrieving the bobbin?).
Next. rethread the top, making sure the presser foot is UP while threading. This opens the tension disks on the top, allowing the thread to enter the tensions. (Threading with the presser foot down is a common cause of loopies on the bottom of the fabric, and thread jams). Then, when you’re ready to start sewing, start each seam this way:
1) Raise the presser foot
2) Pull the bobbin and top thread under and behind the presser foot.
3) Put the fabric under the presser foot, and using the handwheel, lower the needle into the seamline.
4) Drop the presser foot
5) Holding the thread ends behind the presser foot, take a couple of stitches.
6) Drop the thread ends and sew normally.
The first four albums here are samples of stitching from a sewing machine that I made act up by various improper threading techniques — the first album is the “good” sample, the other three have problems that I caused by misthreading or mis-starting. Blue thread on top, red on the bobbin: http://www.picturetrail.com/kkl1234
I think your problem is covered in “jams and tensionless upper thread”.
There are no adjustments between the various samples — it’s all bad threading.
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ORIGINAL PATENT APPLICATION NUMBER 150,005 FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES. … |
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ORIGINAL PRINTED PATENT APPLICATION NUMBER 3,298 FOR APPARATUS OR MECHANISM TO BE APPLIED TO A SEWING MACHINE TO ADAPT THE SAME FOR STITCHING OR SEWING BUTTON HOLES. [1881] … |