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sewing machine woes should I get my machine serviced
Christiana1 Advanced Beginner FRANCE Member since 11/28/11 Posts: 9	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 4/19/12 3:54 AM My sewing machine - a Frister and Rossman cub, has never really done well with either sheers or substantial fabrics - The tension never seems to be quite right no matter what adjustments I make. I have had the machine for 30 years although it was hardly used between my kids being little and now when I have started making my own.I do my cleaning and oiling regularly but wondered whether machines should go off for a full service and recalibration. As no one seems to have a frister and rossman I can't get a feel for whether this is a common problem. Mine does cottons and light cords etc really well.
seaside sewer Intermediate UNITED KINGDOM Member since 6/23/09 Posts: 280	Login to reply to this post In reply to Christiana1 << Like this post Date: 4/19/12 4:01 AM I have had my Frister and Rossmann Cub 7 for 30 plus years. It has been cleaned and oiled regularly by me, but never had a service. It has always sewn anything I have thrown at it, without any problems. I have to adjust the upper tension and foot pressure sometimes, dependant on what fabric I am using, but I love that it will sew anything. I use it now for my quilting group sewing days, and everyone comments on how quiet it is, and how well it sews. In my list of machines below, I have given the Kenmore machine model number that the Frister equals. HTH Eileen ------ Multi-lingual [fluent in many machines] Dream like you will live forever, Live like you'll die today Quilting is my passion, but chocolate comes a close second I am only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand
Christiana1 Advanced Beginner FRANCE Member since 11/28/11 Posts: 9	Login to reply to this post In reply to seaside sewer << Like this post Date: 4/19/12 6:48 AM Thanks for that. i th ink my problem is the bobbin tension which I have adjusted when trying to resolve puckered stitches many many yearss ago. anyway - I'll keep on trying
DreinPA   Intermediate PA USA Member since 4/5/06 Posts: 250	Login to reply to this post In reply to Christiana1 << Like this post Date: 4/19/12 8:12 AM It does sound like you need to work with the presser foot pressure, and perhaps the foot you are using. I am unfamiliar with this model but if it does zig-zag and you are using the wide foot on sheers it will never fare well. It 'sucks' the fabric down the hole. Change to a straight stitch foot and look for improvement. ------ Don't confuse accessibility with ease; just because anybody can pick up a needle and thread doesn't mean sewing quality garments is easy.
beauturbo Advanced CA USA Member since 5/2/09 Posts: 1446	Login to reply to this post In reply to Christiana1 << Like this post Date: 4/19/12 6:01 PM My Frister and Rossman, is really instead just from the 1800's time period (so I do sorta got one) and has a fiddle base to it and pearl inlay, and a boat shaped shuttle and not just only 30 years old and like a newer in time period, Sears Kenmore one at all. So not like yours at all. So not much comparison there at all. But looked at Google images of your machine. My guess is that, no matter how old it is, yours is still just a whole lot better than any new sewing machine you could get for less than $200 or so, at any places like Walmart, Costco, or Amazon dot com and such. Probably cost more than all those others too when it was just brand new, even way back then. And as long as it sews fine and nice for you, on two layers of woven cotton bed sheet kind of fabric, and you think you like that and like it's thread tension there just is fine right now for that, then I think nothing actually wrong with your sewing machine at all. Maybe just operator use and sewing technique kind of errors instead even? Or possibly even unrealistic expectations of how it should even sew on different kinds of stuff. You just can't jam so much heavy thick and tall substantial fabrics under a pressure foot that the machine thinks it's pressure foot is raised up all the way, or you have just no top thread tension on purpose then, and then of course you are going to get thread loopies, and tangles on the underside of your fabric. So if that happens, just that way, that is just normal. Maybe also the same kind of maybe not the best of sewing technique kind of thing going on with your problems on sewing sheers even. Because the needle and size of it, your stitch length you choose, maybe your particular pressure foot you choose to use, your particular thread, and just that sheer fabric and how even it is made each time, really all kind of factor in there. I could only guess then maybe the issue might be your sheer fabric might be getting pulled down the stitch plate hole, and that might then be seen as a tension problem? Or maybe too large of an needle or too thick of a thread, or something like that. But some kinds of really sheer fabric are just kind of hard to sew on, no matter even what kind of machine you use to do that with sometimes. But most times people then change their sewing technique and other factors involved then, rather than just dumping the sewing machine, I think.
beauturbo Advanced CA USA Member since 5/2/09 Posts: 1446	Login to reply to this post In reply to Christiana1 << Like this post Date: 4/19/12 7:28 PM So even though if you got it "serviced" and you "paid for that" then just took it home with some test sample in it showing it stitched perfectly on some woven bed sheet kind of fabric, (just like it does for you right now anyway's it seems) I don't think that would do you any good, when you at home maybe stuck some other kind of fabric into it possibly, especially if there is nothing really wrong with your machine "tensions" at all, unless you really asked them also to sit and sew with you, on those same kinds of fabrics most likely. In that case it might do some good, just because then, you might get to see how they were doing that differently from you each time, to get some better results possibly.
seaside sewer Intermediate UNITED KINGDOM Member since 6/23/09 Posts: 280	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 4/20/12 3:08 AM I think it could be technique. I have sewn everything on this machine when it was my only one., from baby clothes through to soft furnishings, and latterly, free motion quilting and free motion embroidery. I have to adjust tensions on occasions, as I said in my previous post, but I always test on a scrap of fabric first, adjust if necessary, then sew without problems. The machine I have came with a lot of accessory feet, including a roller foot, plus a straight stitch needle plate. I have used them all over time, and added a few generic low shank screw on other feet too, all used with great success. Puckering on very light fabrics could be remedied, maybe, by using a stabiliser, finer needle and thread, and reducing the foot pressure? How often do you change your needle? Do you use needles appropriate to what you sew? I would experiment with my technique before paying for a service. Beauturbo is right when she says this machine would be better than a modern one, IMHO ------ Multi-lingual [fluent in many machines] Dream like you will live forever, Live like you'll die today Quilting is my passion, but chocolate comes a close second I am only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand

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