Sewing Machine

Scope

This write up covers Hacklabs various sewing machines. There are many like it but these ones are ours.

Hacklab currently has three, potentially 4 sewing machines; three domestic machines and one industrial. The oldest machine we have is a Singer JA379172. According to Contrado Sewing Blog it was manufactured in 1924, and Old Sewing Gear Blog says it was manufactured in St Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Quebec. It has an unconventional plug system and is controlled by a knee-bar instead of a treadle presser-foot control like modern machines. The bar connects to the front of the machine and hangs below the table. When your knee presses the bar to the right it activates and you can use it to control the speed as well. It's also got a beautiful grape vine engraved face plate and uses a vibrating shuttle bobbin system instead of a modern donut-style bobbin. It produces a lovely lockstitch but there's no back tack so you have to sink your needle, lift the presser foot and manually flip your fabric back-to-front to create one.

Our other domestic machine is a Brother LS-2125 named Steve. He's great for sewing basic projects like shirts and slacks. He can create button holes and has an adjustable zigzag stitch too. You can find more info about him at Brother.

The last machine on our list is a Siruba model 757B industrial 5-thread overlock machine. This machine sews a three-thread serge stitch beside a two-thread chain stitch. It's great for sewing pants, shirts and other projects that require serging because it sews and serges in one step. It feeds fabric in incredibly fast and is very complicated to thread. Best practice is to place your full foot on the treadle foot and slowly tip the toes end down till you can figure out the controls.

Setup

SINGER

• takes standard domestic needles
• needle goes in with the groove on the left, scarf (lil' scoopie thing at the hole) to the right
• thread goes in the hole left to right (outside to inside)
• to back tack, sew a couple stitches, sink needle, lift presser foot, flip fabric around and sew a few more stitches, flip again and continue the seam
• to lift/sink the needle, turn the hand wheel

Always turn the hand wheel towards you on the Singer

BROTHER STEVE

• takes standard domestic needles
• needle goes in with groove to the front, scarf to the back; thread goes in front to back
• to backtack, hold down the lever to the right of the sewing surface for about 3 stitches and let go to continue sewing forward
• to lift/sink the needle, turn the hand wheel

Always turn the hand wheel towards you on Brother Steve

SIRUBA 5-THREAD

• takes standard industrial serger needles
• needle goes in with the groove to the front, scarf to the back; threaded front to back
• to rethread the machine, snip the thread close to the cone, replace cone and tie new thread to old thread already in machine
  • snip thread ends close to knot
  • unhook presser foot with top lever
  • unthread R needle and untangle from looper thread, pull needle and upper/lower looper thread till new thread shows through; hold tension plates open if needed
  • snip L needle thread and pull through; lift/separate tension plates from thread if needed; pull lower looper thread up - GENTLY! If the L lower looper thread breaks it is a total bitch to rethread through the tunnel at the back.
    • IF YOUR THREAD BREAKS AND/OR THE MACHINE UNTHREADS, THERE IS A THREAD MAP ON THE INSIDE OF THE FRONT DOOR
    • When re-threading from scratch, thread loopers before needles for least frustrating results
• to lift/sink the needles, turn the hand wheel

Always turn the hand wheel AWAY from you on the 5 thread

Limitations

The domestic machines don't have very large motors so they're not powerful enough to get through too many layers of fabric, or thick fabric. The 5-thread can go through several layers but it's always important to choose the right needle for the job. Even a domestic machine can sew through two layers of leather provided the needle is sharp enough. Needles that are too thin will break on heavy material or too many layers of material.