A little maintanence can go a long ways!

Today while I was working on my table runner my machine started asking for a little attention and it got me thinking.  I don't clean my machine as often as I should but I do have it serviced every year in May.  I remember having a conversation with a friend who had inherited a machine and we were troubleshooting trying to figure out why it wasn't working.  I asked how long it had been since it had been cleaned and she didn't even realize that she should clean it.

I tried taking pictures of my very dirty machine but the pictures kept coming out blurry.  While I was taking my sewing classes we cleaned our machines every Friday.  I have a Janome and I don't need to oil it every week but I do need to keep an eye on it.  Different machines have different needs.  So if you haven't oiled yours in a while you may want to take a look.

I once heard that we should clean our machines after every big project, if not during, and after a few small projects.  Honestly, I haven't cleaned it all year. 

I took off the cover plate and there was a lot of lint and fuzz built up.  So I went and grabbed a few q-tips and my can of air.  I cleaned as much of the fuzz as I could with the q-tips and then sprayed with my air and re thread my machine and it worked like a charm.

So for all of you with sewing machines you might want to take a look and see if they are asking for some attention.  My machine takes care of me by relieving stress so I will do what I can to take care of it.