TIPS ON FOOT-POWERED SEWING MACHINES

(Page 2 of 2)

March/April 1975
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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Here are some basic rules to make foot powered sewing easier:

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[1] From page 7 of Machine Sewing: "The most comfortable and effective position for treadling is with the ball of the left foot upon the upper left corner of the treadle and the heel of the right foot on the lower right corner. Treadling in this position takes very much less effort than when the feet are placed in any other position." It works.

[2] Always use the same thread on the bobbin as on the head. The two strands must be from the same spool or you'll be fiddling with the tension until you go mad.

[3] The machine has no reverse. Just turn the material around and stitch over any place you wish to reinforce.

[4] The large band wheel that drives my Singer's mechanism is equipped with a belt shifter to remove the leather strap when necessary. I found that this device interfered with the belt and often knocked it off while I was sewing so I tied it to the skirt guard and now remove the band manually.

[5] One of the trickier operations in normal use of the treadle sewer is the replacement of the bed slide (the metal lid that covers the bobbin hole). On my model, this part must be slid under the needle from the right, fitted gently into the grooves on the sides of the opening and pushed to the left.

6]Get the bobbin tension where you want it, and then learn by experience the proper adjustment for the upper thread. (Some sewing machine owners prefer to reverse the procedure. See Kent Rayman's suggestion in this issue. MOTHER

These few precautions make life with a treadle machine much easier. Now that 1 know my Singer, I love it dearly. When the old gal gets ornery we have a little conference and 1 often find that the problem is really very simple to deal with after all. by Helene Ellis

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