The same person who has been repairing my sewing machines for years recently fixed my new Singer Sewing machine. It was jammed in so many places I couldn’t get anything to move. He does a great job and is very honest.
But when I got my machine back the feed dogs were stuck in the “up” position. Normally that would be fine, but this is the sewing machine I only use for free motion sewing, so I need the feed dogs to be down.
(The feed dogs are a little metal piece in the bottom of the machine that keeps the fabric moving forward when you do regular sewing)
This morning I brought my sewing machine to Terri at Ruby’s Nimble Thimble, a sewing shop in Greenwich, a few towns west of the farm. I told her my problem and she said she’d be happy to look at it and see what she could do.
“We could just get rid of the feed dogs altogether,” I told her.
She understood that I use this machine for free motion sewing and my Janome for all my other sewing. I’ve learned over the years that the little switch which raises and lowers the feed dogs will eventually break, especially when you use it as much as I do.
It only took a few months for that switch to break on my new Singer Heavy Duty sewing machine. Not so heavy duty, I guess, but then I didn’t pay a heavy duty price for it either.
Terri removed the needle plate from my machine and saw that there were two screws holding the feed dogs in.
We decided to just unscrew them and remove the feed dogs.
Except it wasn’t that simple. The screws were in so tight, and the space for a screw driver so small, in just a little while the first screw was almost stripped.
Terri tried every size and kind of screw driver and finally got one of the screws loose. After that the two of work with a pliers, oil and screwdrivers to remove the other screw.
I’ve only met Terri once or twice before and I doubt she remembered me, but we worked well together. Each doing our part without getting in the other persons way and listening to each others ideas.
It took about 20 minutes, but finally we loosened the second screw by twisting the feed dogs themselves.
It felt like a great triumph.
As often as I suggested that I’d go home and try loosening the screw with my drill, Terri just kept at it. And I’m grateful she did, because if I got home and couldn’t get the feed dogs out, I’d be back where I started.
It will be so much easier to make my Holding Pillows having the two machines to work with. No more changing presser feet each time I need to stitch the images for the little circles. No more worrying that each time I do, that little switch that raises and lowers the feed dogs will break.
I feel lucky to have a sewing shop with such an knowledgeable owner so close by. There are so few of them anymore.
And I have a feeling Terri will remember me next time I visit her shop. I think she was a delighted as I was to get my sewing machine working for me again.
It’s wonderful that you have this helpful shop, and Terri, nearby!