My sewing machine jammed mid-project at a craft fair in Denver last Saturday.

I was hemming a display dress behind my booth when the bobbin thread started looping up top, making a mess of the fabric. I had to apologize to three customers while I took the machine apart right there and found a tiny knot of thread wrapped around the tension disk. Has anyone else had this happen and found a quick fix to avoid stopping mid-event?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_james28d ago

Oh man, I feel your pain! That exact thing got me during a holiday market last year, and I learned to keep a dental pick and a mini flashlight in my sewing kit for emergencies. You can usually fish the knot out without fully removing the disk, just tilt the assembly gently and wiggle it loose with the pick. Also ditch cheap poly thread for events, I stick with Gutermann or Coats & Clark because they don't fray and shed as much.

nancys9028d ago

You said "tiny knot of thread wrapped around the tension disk" - that's exactly the kind of sneaky thing that gets me. But I'm curious, when you took the machine apart right there, did you actually have to remove the tension disk assembly to get to it, or were you able to just pick it out with tweezers? Because I've had that happen before and it always seems like the knot is hiding in some impossible spot. Also, were you using a particular brand of thread that might have been more prone to fraying or snapping? I swear some cheap poly threads just love to shed little fibers that build up into knots.