Need sewing help!

[Twoboos]

MIL is a very talented sewer. Last visit she brought her old sewing machine here, made some stuff for the girls, showed them a little how to use it, and showed me a little.

I am not good. But DD1 needs her Girl Scout badges sewn on for tomorrow.

I was doing OK. (Even though it looks like a blind drunk sewed it - I have no business trying to do dolphin and sea wave patches!) And then the needle BROKE!

I can't find the broken piece. What should I do? I don't want to jam up the machine, it's a good Pfaff one.

Any advice for the novice, terrible sewer? (Besides bring badges to dry cleaner to sew on. ;) The rest are iron on so I'm good.)

[Meatball Mommie]

Don't worry! Needles break all the time :) You were sewing something thick, so it's kind of expected. You should have probably changed to a "denim" needle, but it's ok. There are needles that are meant for thicker fabric vs. shirt/quilting weight fabric.

You can replace needles very easily and you can buy new ones at JoAnn's or whatever fabric store (even Walmart) that you have nearby. They come in packs of 5 or so.

About the broken piece...it probably flew off somewhere. Maybe it's stuck in what you were sewing or is inside the bobbin compartment...check both places.

[sarahsthreads]

Agree with switching to a denim needle, and if you have a can of compressed air you could try carefully blowing out the bobbin compartment (a good idea to do regularly anyway, lint builds up in there like nobody's business) and hopefully dislodge a needle piece if there's one stuck.

Even if there's one stuck somewhere, it's unlikely to do more than maybe damage the new needle you put in. Just rethread everything and go slow when you start back up to make sure everything is working properly.

Sarah :)

[Twoboos]

Thanks for the advice! I got in contact with MIL who was very impressed I was giving this a go, LOL.

As she was walking me through what to do, the broken piece flew out of somewhere - WHEW!

I am going to sew straight lines as much as possible from now on.

[BunnyBee]

Go buy Badge Magic from SchoolBox or wherever and put away your sewing machine. I sew and didn't even try using my machine for the badges. :)