When the sewing machine gets the better of you

[Auryn]

So I want to commiserate in hopes that I am not alone and you guys feel like sharing stories so that we can all commiserate together.

last night I spent 3 hours fighting with my vintage singer 15-91- and it won.
All I wanted to do was ruffle 45 yards of chiffon with my lovely ruffling foot.
I threaded everything properly multiple times, gave her her regular oiling, made sure there was no lint anywhere, new needle and anything
and bubkiss.
I am now at the point were the stupid needle won't even pick up the bobbin thread- I was getting nesting of the upper threading, now it wont even move the thread below the fabric.
I went to bed on the verge of tears.
To the point that I am going to break down and get a ruffling foot for my brother and get rid of the singer.
Theres no point in me keeping it if I can't get the dang thing to work.

When I took it in for service in  the spring the guy said she ran beautifully and he had no problems with her.
Every time I want to use her I waste several hours trying to get it working right- obviously it user error

sigghh....

so who else?

[isabelladangelo]

Sounds like a tension thing.  Maybe the lower tension needs some tweeking?

This is why I give up and buy a new sewing machine every four or five years.  :-)

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

I have to admit that I have had no issues with my sewing machines. They seem to cooperate with me.

Sergers? THAT'S a different story! I have to make sure all the threads are going in the propers direction, thread the Bottom looper before the Top looper. If not, the Bottom looper thread breaks and all hell follows. Sergers can be more tempermental than a Sewing machine can.

[arbcoind]

Off topic, but...

Is a spammer inserting a survey in the text above?

Gina

[gem]

I realize this is in no way scientific or even rational... but I do kind of believe that there are just some bad matches between owner and machine. It might work totally fine for one person, but for another be an absolute lemon. Normally those vintage Singers are wonderful, but there is clearly something about it that isn't working for you. What a shame!

No advice on the modern ruffler; it's not something I've ever had to do!

Good luck!!

[Serenity]

I say go with the new one.  My grandmother had a Singer that was nothing but problems after a while, even though it supposedly "ran great" at the shop.  I never went back to that shop.  Took it to another one and found out all the mechanisms were kaput.  Agree with isabella, next machine please.

[Auryn]

Well...

hehe this is why user error is usually the culprit- apparently I not only had the machine threaded improperly- I also had the needle inserted incorrectly
Once I fixed all those problems- I turned 40 yards of fabric into 20 yards of ruffled beauty in under 20 minutes.

So ya
Major fail on my part 

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

HUZZAH Auryn!

We all have had those "Doh" moments through our sewing years.

[Rani Zemirah]

Not at ALL a fail, Auryn!  I believe that's what's called a "learning experience"!  Which you then promptly turned into a very real triumph!!!