How to Clean and Oil Your Sewing Machine
Cleaning and oiling your sewing machine is basic maintenance that can help the machine to last longer and perform more smoothly. If you sew regularly, bits of lint, thread, dust and even fabric can get stuck in your machine. These make work harder and can even jam your sewing machine. Clean your machine to fix these problems and use sewing machine oil to help the moving parts function smoothly. You should clean and oil your machine after finishing any large project as well as any time you suspect it is having a problem.
Things You'll Need
- Manual for your sewing machine
- Sewing machine oil
- Can of compressed air
- Tweezers
- Screwdriver
- Lint brush
Instructions
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1
Unplug your sewing machine.
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2
Unscrew and remove the needle and foot and put them in a safe place.
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3
Remove the throat plate on your sewing machine. Unscrew it if necessary and use the throat plate lever to raise the plate so you can remove it. Your machine's manual should have specific instructions for this.
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4
Use tweezers and a lint brush to remove all bits of thread, debris or dust in the sewing machine.
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5
Carefully blow out the foot plate and bobbin area with compressed air. Do not blow any debris further into the sewing machine because this could cause problems later.
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6
Place a tiny drop of sewing machine oil in each of the oil spots on your sewing machine. Your manual will show you exactly where these are located, or they will be marked on your machine.
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7
Turn the hand wheel several times to distribute the oil.
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8
Replace the foot plate and press the lever downward to lower it back into place. Replace any screws that you removed.
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9
Replace the sewing machine foot and needle.
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10
Sew for a minute or so with a piece of paper towel or a scrap piece of fabric to absorb excess oil. You do not need to thread the machine for this.
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Tips & Warnings
You can unscrew and remove the bobbin casing to clean underneath it. If you do this be sure to put it back in correctly.
Use only sewing machine oil for your sewing machine. Any other type of oil could damage the machine.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
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Comments
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thank you for this info - will get proper oil and find manual online if I can.
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fashion designer
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Thanks
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I apologize, I didn't mean that comment to sound angry, just trying to inform is all.
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# 5 Carefully blow out the foot plate and bobbin area with compressed air. Do not blow any debris further into the sewing machine because this could cause problems later.... what good is posting references if you change what they say? according to the references you posted it says to NOT use compressed air.
