Machine Service

How Often Should a Machine be Professionally Serviced?

How often a machine is serviced has a lot to do with how you sew and how often you sew. Conventional wisdom says the less you sew, the less you need to service your machine. This could not be further from the truth. It can be more damaging for a sewing machine to sit idle for several years than to be used on a regular basis. As a machine sits unused, it becomes more likely to bind up and run rough.

Sometimes the machine is not stored in a desirable location. If you need to store a machine for an long time, it is best to keep it in a dry location where the temperature does not fluctuate. Avoid places like basements, barns, attics, garages, or unheated damp storage lockers. If a machine has been stored or unused for 5 years or more, it would be wise to have the machine professionally serviced.

If you do mostly hobby sewing, have your machine professionally serviced every 4-6 years. A hobby sewer is likely to sew in spurts for Halloween costumes, Christmas gifts, small home deco projects, or the latest craft craze. It is best to have your machine serviced in the summer when you are less likely to be doing any sewing. Try to get it done at that time so you can be ready for both autumn and holiday sewing.

If you are a quilter, consider having your machine serviced every 2-3 years. Other than a professional sewer or satin stitch appliquéing, quilting is the most demanding type of sewing there is. The machine often runs at medium to full speed for hours at a time. Add to this the common use of cotton thread and other linty products such as batting, and you have a major lint factory. Forget to clean your machine after doing a lot of quilting and you are likely to find a nice felt-like pad under the feed dogs. Lots of lint in a machine is a great way of wearing down the moving parts. Once these parts start to wear down, the precision decreases and the machine will become permanently loud.

If you are an avid hobbyist, you will want to consider using the same service schedule as a quilter. Although overall running time might be less, the flexible demands of the machine come into play. As an avid hobbyist, sewing is a common pastime, and projects vary from garment construction, to home decorating, to creative sewing. Today you might mend or hem jeans, tomorrow you might make a designer throw pillow with fancy piping, and next week you will tackle that beautiful silk tweed for the fall blazer. When you sit down to sew, you are more likely to use several presser feet and use more than a straight stitch. Your sewing goes from two layers to eight within a few inches. How often have you tried to sew though zipper teeth (by accident, of course!)? Because your sewing is so flexible, you put a different type of demand on your machine. This type of sewing also can lead to a lint-packed machine and often leads to damage caused by needle breakage. So, if you are the type of sewer who also breaks a lot of needles, have your machine serviced even more often!

If you are a professional seamstress, you will want to service your machine once a year! You are very demanding of your equipment and rely on it to make a living. Nothing is worse than a deadline and a malfunctioning machine! Better yet, own two machines! Rotate through them every month. Have one serviced every year so you never experience downtime because of equipment failure. This concept will cost no more than the initial investment of a second machine and will save tons of grief!

When your first machine is ready for its annual service or has a problem, bring it in right away! The two-machine system works only if one machine is in top working order! In other words, don’t forget to service the first machine or you will find yourself with two machines needing service at the same time! This defeats the advantage of having two machines in the first place!

And, YES, we service machines other than Bernina!