I have to.
So a little backstory. When I quilted “Hidden Star” I was having the toughest time with it. My thread kept breaking and it just was not going well. I thought it could be the fact that I used spray basting for the first time, and that maybe my machine needed to be serviced. I knew it was not my needle, because I just changed it. Well, I got through the quilt, but it was the absolute worst experience I have had quilting a quilt so far.
So this last weekend, I was ready to quilt another quilt. I was not looking forward to it at all. I decided I should probably give my machine a thorough cleaning–since it had been a while sine I have cleaned it. Well, I was mortified when I unscrewed the top off and found this:
I can’t believe how much crap has accumulated in my machine!! I knew I needed to clean it out regularly, but obviously I was not doing it as regularly as I should have. I am pretty certain this is one of the reasons why I was having a hard time quilting my last quilt.
I got my vacuum cleaner out and started vacuuming it out. I then pulled up the bobbin case and found more crap. It actually kind of reminded me of a cotton candy maker! lol
So, after a good half hour of cleaning it and vacuuming it out–it now is working wonderfully! My thread didn’t break once when I quilted over the weekend, and it seems to be running much better. I should have taken an after picture! But it looks like a brand new machine! 🙂
So the lesson of the story is: clean your machine! Be sure to look at your user manual for your machine’s specific instructions.
I will be cleaning my machine way more often now!
Talk to you soon,