Sewing Machine Repair Guy = A Success!

My sewing machine went on the fritz a couple of months back and we just got around to getting it repaired now. Fahim called Singer, which was where we bought the machine, and they gave us the number for a repair person who would repair it at the house.

We had an appointment set up for Monday, but the guy didn’t show. Fahim called him, and the guy said that he wasn’t feeling well so stayed home from work. Did he call to let us know he wasn’t coming? Noooooooooo! That’s not how things work here.

At any rate, he came over on Tuesday and fixed the machine – tension problems – pretty quickly. There were a few things going on.

Loose clip

A clip had become loose and came off of the upper tension control. That was easy to fix and, honestly, very easy for him to find given that he had it fixed in just a couple of minutes after I told the guy.

Using the wrong plastic bobbin

The bobbin tension was affected by me using the wrong bobbin. Here’s the thing, though. When I bought my machine, it came with three empty plastic bobbins. And, because I sew a fair bit, I bought a bunch more plastic bobbins from Singer, all were stamped with Singer on the side. The original three bobbins had no such stamp.

The unstamped bobbins were, the repair guy tells me, the wrong size for the machine. Entirely too small. I know this now because I compared them to the Singer plastic bobbins and there is a very noticeable size difference.

So Singer shipped the machine with the wrong bobbins? Or did someone at the shop where I bought the machine switch them out or lose the originals? Or what?

Bobbin tension control

I’m anal-retentive detail-oriented. You know how you think there are people in this world who read manuals front to back or read contracts in their entirety, including the small print that requires the use of a magnifying glass, only you’ve never met one and don’t know anyone who has, either?

Yeah, I’m that person. 🙂

And being that person, I read the sewing machine manual cover to cover. A few times. I believe in becoming familiar with my equipment rather than guessing. And, you know what? It works for me.

This sewing machine manual said that the bobbin tension was adjusted on the upper control panel where you change the types of stitches, width of those stitches, and so on.

Turns out that, while you can adjust the bobbin tension on that button they indicate, that’s only when you’re using certain stitches that required the use of the double-needle and two spools of thread. Otherwise, the bobbin tension is to be adjusted with a screw driver on the bobbin casing which, incidentally, is very difficult to see. And the manual makes no reference to that screw at all. Zero reference.

All in all

The repair guy didn’t waste time. He got the job done, got it done quickly and efficiently, and corrected my understandable (as far as I’m concerned :P) misinformation regarding bobbins and bobbin tension.

I asked him later how long he’d been repairing sewing machines. He said 30 years and added that he could repair anything – any make, any model. Given what I saw, I believe him entirely.

And now I have a sewing machine with proper bobbin tension – the first time since I bought the sewing machine. Finally, I have stitches that lay flat like they’re supposed to. Finally. And I’m very very happy. 🙂