Singer 15-

Put in a new needle the correct way.

Now that made Oi chuckle.....

Why chuckle? It's almost always the first (and usually the best) advice we all provide for skipped stitches, etc.

Beverly

Why is that?

I think about a new needle but never thought much about the suggestion to put it in correctly. That is pretty important. I did get a great deal on a FW that 'didn't work' because the needle was in the wrong way. I gave the guy the asking price and ran! Taria

BEI Design wrote:

Is the needle right way around? Needles turned the wrong way result in occasional dropped stitches.

One of the yahoo groups "wefixit" may be useful to you, too -- it's a group of "sewing machine shade tree mechanics", and they've got some nice info on basic overhauls of the old mechanicals.

Kay

Then to you and Ron I shall have to put it down to a whimsical sense of humour.

'Put in a new needle', yes. 'The correct way' just struck me as amusing.

I guess the American and British sense of humour really are quite different.

You might also be amused at the number of sewing newbies who put the needle in backwards/wrong-way-around. It is easy to do, does not make itself immediately apparent to the novice sewist, but caused a great deal of difficulty in forming a proper stitch. So "Put in a new needle the correct way" might be seen as cryptic, but is very good advice. ;-)

Beverly

The problem is that very few of us are perfect and always unerringly put a needle in a new machine, or one we don't use often, the correct way. Silly machines don't all want the needle in the same way. Some "face" left, right, or straight ahead, and clues can be hard to find - especially if you can't remember where you put that manual.

This problem is compounded by the fact that most of us think we know what we're doing, and we don't even think of the possibility that we've put the danged needle in backwards. We don't usually find it amusing, it's just embarrassing.

Ah, so things are becoming a little clearer! On my trusty Pfaff, the needle will only go in one way. With modern needles that have a flat, I can't actually put it in any other way - I've tried and had it stick into my finger in the doing, so to speak. That's why Ron's comments struck me as amusing.

Coo, this is hard work.......

That definitely helps, but you should see the Wilcox & Gibbs, which has a groove in the needle and it has to be inserted with a special wrench (or substitute) and can't possibly go wrong. Most machines are not so finicky. They let you pop the needle in any old way, then refuse to give you a stitch until you figure it out.