In addition to regular professional tune-ups every 12-18 months, you should be cleaning out and caring for your serger and sewing machine at home after every 8-10 hours of sewing. You should clean it more often if you’ve been sewing fuzzy fabrics, towels, or wool. The following is a quick guide to cleaning your sewing machine.
What you’ll need:
- A variety of cleaning brushes
- Micro-fiber cleaning cloth
- Tweezers
- Sewing machine oil
- Sewing machine manual
- Any additional items according to your manual
Do’s
- Read the manual – get to know your machine before taking it apart.
- Brush out your sewing machine after every few uses.
- Oil the machine as instructed in your manual.
- Only take apart small areas at a time.
- Wipe down the outside of the machine with a damp cloth after every few uses.
- Cover when not in use.
- After you are finished, sew on a piece of scrap fabric to be sure everything is working properly.
Don’ts
- Don’t use canned air or blow into your machine. Small particles of moisture are blown out and can damage your machine.
- Don’t oil the machine if not instructed to.
- Don’t over oil.
- Don’t clean when your machine is plugged in.
