Give your sewing machine the same level of care you would give any other piece of equipment and clean it after every project. Use the brush that came with your machine to brush off any lint from the needle plate. Remove the bobbin and use that brush and a tweezer to clean any lint or thread from the bobbin case. Your sewing machine manual will give you detailed instructions on how to maintain your machine.
Never use a can of compressed air to clean your machine. The compressed air will push the lint and thread further into your machine, warranting a trip to the sewing machine repair shop.
Cleaning your Machine
I recommend cleaning your machine after each project, especially if that project is a quilt. The batting between your quilt top and back creates a lot of lint. This lint from the batting is created when you are quilting your quilt and it is pushed into the bobbin area by your needle. In addition, thread also creates a lot of lint. Some thread creates more lint than others, so how much lint is created by your thread depends on the brand you are using.
Changing the Needle
There are different recommendations regarding how often you should change your sewing machine needle. Some recommend changing it every time you start a new project, and others recommend changing it after going through three bobbins of thread. I recommend changing it after every project. If you are working on a large project, such as a king size quilt, you may want to change your needle halfway through that project. In addition, you especially want to change your needle if you notice that it is dull, bent, or has a burr. This will prevent many frustrating problems such as skipped stitches, a broken needle right in the middle of a long seam, thread breaking, or a bird’s nest on the back of your project. If you are quilting your quilt on your machine, it is especially important to have a new needle in your machine. You want to avoid a bird’s nest on the back of a quilt you spent many hours piecing.
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