How to Lubricate a Sewing Machine

In order to ensure that your sewing machine enjoys the long life it was built for, it's important to upkeep it regularly using proper maintenance techniques. One of the easiest things you can do to keep your sewing machine running smoothly is to lubricate it using sewing machine oil.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sewing machine
• Sewing machine oil

Lubricate Your Sewing Machine

1. Purchase a high-quality brand of sewing machine oil from a sewing store or other specialty retailer. Ask questions of the staff in the store if you are having trouble differentiating between brands. Higher quality generally comes with a higher price tag, but the price of good sewing machine oil is favorable to the costs involved with repairing or replacing an entire sewing machine.

2. Unplug your sewing machine. Make sure its power switch is set to 'off.' Because you will be dealing with fluid, it is especially important to make absolutely certain any power supply is disconnected.

3. Drop a single drip of sewing machine oil onto the mechanism that drives the sewing needle. If you purchased quality sewing machine oil, more than one drop will generally not be necessary.

4. Repeat Step 3, applying a single drop of oil to every part of your sewing machine that moves. Consult your sewing machine owner's manual if you need instruction on how to access any moving parts that may be contained beneath the casing of the machine.

5. Allow the oil to absorb by letting your sewing machine stand for a few minutes. Most experts suggest that 15 to 30 minutes is a good window of time to let your machine stand while the sewing machine oil works its magic.

6. Plug your sewing machine back in. When you have safely done so, turn the power switch to 'on.'

7. Feed some scrap fabric through the sewing machine, running its moving parts at a slow but constant rate. This will allow the oil to spread evenly throughout the parts that require lubrication to maintain optimal performance.

8. Find helpful tips and advice at the SewingForum (see Resources below). The message boards and chat forums there specialize in sewing machine maintenance and repair techniques.

Tips & Warnings

• Never lubricate any of your sewing machine's electrical parts. This may cause irreparable damage to your sewing machine, and could potentially result in an electric shock.

Resources

• SewingForum for tips on sewing machine maintenance and repair

[fiberbabble]

on 12/13/2007 Nice, to the point and EXTREMELY important How-To.

I'm a bit concerned about Step 4: "Repeat Step 3, applying a single drop of oil to every part of your sewing machine that moves..."

Oil goes where oil goes, and [machine] grease goes where grease goes. Some moving parts (such as the hook shaft) require grease, rather than oil.

Since there isn't a little tube of machine grease next to the machine oil on the notions wall, we can assume that a home/hobby sewist wouldn't ever need to use grease and that the 'professionals' will do it when the machine is taken in for its routine maintenance.