A couple of days ago there was a nice comment from Anonymous saying how much she (or he?) has been enjoying using a Singer 28K, but now there is a problem with the needle mechanism disengaging of its own accord - at least that's how I understood the question. This is a problem I have had in the past with one of my machines. The answer was to clean up the stop motion screw and the washer behind it.
The first step is to take off the stop motion screw - the large silver disc at the centre of the balance wheel. These photos are of my Singer 201K treadle. With a hand machine you need to unscrew the whole hand crank assembly first to get at the stop motion screw properly.
First, loosen this small screw. There is no need to take it out completely - in fact, it is better not to. You don't want to wave good bye to it as it disappears down between the floorboards. Just loosen it so the head is no longer flush in its setting. Then you can unscrew the stop motion screw itself.
When you take it off you will see the tabbed washer underneath. If you are lucky, as I was this time, it will remain in place over the end of the shaft.
Usually it comes away with the stop motion screw because it sticks to the inside of it with old oil. Or it just drops away and ends up on the floor.
Once the washer is removed, any mucky residue of oil can be cleaned away from the head of the shaft, the washer and the inside of the stop motion screw.
It can take two or three attempts to get the washer back on the right way. The two tabs on the inside of the washer are at an angle.
On this photo they are pointing up towards the camera...
... and on this photo they are pointing down towards the table. Because this is a Singer part it is stamped with the trade name and part number on this side. This is the side that faces away from the stop motion screw and towards the main body of the machine.
As for the three tabs on the outside, they too have to be in the right position when replacing the washer on the machine. This post on the Vintage Singer Sewing Machine Blog has an excellent video showing how to make sure it is the right way.
So, getting back to Anonymous's problem...
Either the stop motion mechanism is sticking because it is gummed up with old oil, dust or sticky old rubbish inside...
...Or the little screw is not screwed in far enough to make the end protrude through to the other side. This end of the screw sits between two outer tabs. When you turn the stop motion screw clockwise, the washer is pushed that way by the end of the screw, and the needle mechanism engages. When you turn it anti-clockwise, you turn the washer back in the other direction and disengage the mechanism so you can wind your bobbins with the needle out of action.
So here is the plan of action for Anonymous:-
First check that the head of the small screw is flush with its setting.
If that doesn't cure the problem, take the stop motion screw off and give it a good cleaning. Paraffin should shift ancient sticky muck. Give the machine a good oiling when you reassemble the part.
Good luck!
Finally, welcome to the latest follower, the enigmatically named me - thank you for following!
Seen on one of my walks in Poland in August. This little beetle is the size of a ladybird and has amazing metallic stripes in red, green, blue and yellow. I had never seen one before.
Welcome to the latest followers, JLeibfried and Fabiola Isaza Z. - thank you for joining!
The bright African print which I picked up in a charity shop recently is being put to use already. I have decided to make a cover for the Singer 15K treadle, my wonderful free motion work horse. I use the machine so often that I never put it away, and it could do with a cover to keep the dust off it.
The pattern is so busy and the red so bright that there was no point in doing anything fancy with the quilting. The variegated rusty brown thread blends in well, and the meandering infill is easy enough to do quickly over a relatively large area.
The quilting shows up better on the back, which is going to end up hidden anyway. I didn't even bother agonising over the colour of the thread underneath - I just used bobbins that were already filled, and made sure that it was a dark thread so there was no contrast with the top thread if it showed through. The backing is a lightweight polyester and cotton which I had in the cupboard. Cheap, but very irritating. It doesn't glide across the bed of the machine as smoothly as pure cotton, so I was working against it for much of the time.
Once I have quilted a couple more panels I should be able to assemble the cover fairly quickly...
Welcome to Graham Wilson, the latest follower. Thank you for joining!
Linking up again with Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday - plenty of blogs to visit there!
And also with Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the September New FO Linky Party, to see what people have started, but not necessarily finished... And here is a link to my July New FO, which is well and truly finished!
This pretty floral print has been with me a long time. I bought it in Liverpool in about 1980 and have only ever used it in backings on small items. For some reason it has never gone well with other fabrics that I have used and has never made it onto a quilt top. Yet again it is on the back of a quilt, which will soon be stuffed into an envelope to wing its way to Utah to Pattilou. The front of the quilt is a secret until Pattilou receives it...
I am slightly at a loss as to why this print never quite goes with anything else. I would understand if it were sludgy colours, or just plain ugly, but it is a really sweet design. Just another of life's mysteries.
This is the quilt I received from Lee, my August partner in the Doll Quilters' Monthly swap. The theme was "Dressed to the Nines", and Lee certainly used some interesting nine patches to great effect - such tricky piecing, all those triangles! The sharp contrast of the purple and white looks like a tiled floor, just the sort of design I find fascinating.
Lee also sent me a tiny little fabric container, just the right size to hold three reels of thread, and which is now sitting on my treadle.
Thank you Lee!
This beautiful butterfly was in the back garden on the hedge while I was pegging out the washing earlier this week. Not only did it wait for me to finish hanging the washing and then go in for the camera, it also closed its wings so I could get a photo of the comma on the underneath.
I knew the comma was white, but I didn't realise until I looked at the picture afterwards that it had white legs to match.
Welcome to the latest followers - Pattilou (who just happens to be my partner for this month's doll quilt swap) and 2ne from Norway. Thank you for joining!
This the latest experiment, done on a fat quarter sized piece of fabric. I wasn't sure what I was going to try this week. I had a notion that I was going to do a design based on an unusual beer can, but when I visited Mary Ellen's blog and saw her wonderful pictures of her trip to Germany, the whole plan changed. She has a photo of a beautiful garden full of autumn flowers, so I decided to have a go at rudbeckias.
First I did the flower in the centre, with the three flower heads coming from a central stalk.
Next I put in a shorter flower on either side, each with two flower heads.
When I do this pattern again I shall try and make the stems shorter and fit in more flowers. I didn't really plan what I was going to do at the top. I thought the pattern would work itself out and that I would be able to arrange the stems more easily, but I started confusing myself at the top. An advance sketch might have helped.
Welcome to Susan, the latest follower - thank you for joining!
Linking up again with Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday
... and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
