Singer 337 problems

I am not familiar with your machine, so take this for what it's worth. Tension problems are more often then not something wrong with the needle thread path. Two things to try:

New needle and make sure it's inserted in the correct direction.

Clean the upper thread path, including flossing between he tension disks then re-thread, following the instruction in the manual.

You've spent $75.00 with the local shop, did they offer any kind of warrantee? You might take it back and ask them to diagnose the problem.

Please clarify - are the loose stitches on the top or bottom?

Loose stitches on top mean a lower thread problem, loose stitches on top indicate upper thread problem.

You may also have 'burrs' on the bobbin case, hook or bobbin; or even under the needle plate. Run your fingers over the metal bits to see if you can feel anything.

-Irene

In addition to the other suggestions, take the bobbin case and the shuttle out and give them a good clean and inspection.

If my memory serves adequately, the 337 is a type 66 with the top loading bobbin. The bobbin case is held in with a couple of screws and isn't difficult to remove, but you do need to be careful. I think the shuttle (the thing with the hook that catches the thread) just rests in the hole and can be lifted out once you have the bobbin case removed. Take it out, clean it carefully, and inspect it and the shuttle carefully for damage. Oil it where the shuttle and the shuttle race meet. The shuttle race is the static bit that the hooked bit turns in: drop a couple of drops of oil on the join.

Check the slot in the needle plate where the needle passes through. There's probably a burr/gouge there from needle strikes. If it's not too big, it can be smoothed with a small round file and sandpaper. If it's too big, the plate will have to be replaced.

gwh

The upper tension disks open when the presser foot is raised. If you don't raise the presser foot when you're threading the upper part of the machine, the thread doesn't get between the tension disks, and you get loose upper thread making loops on the bottom of the fabric.

Likewise, leaving the presser foot up while trying to sew will also produce loops on the back of the fabric. Those two are, ime, the major causes of this issue.

Dirty or corroded tension disks can be forced apart by the crud, resulting in no upper tension; I've also seen this with a weak tension spring.

And finally, thread that's too heavy for the size of the needle can get jammed in the long groove of the needle and look like there's no tension up top. Try standard dressmaker thread and a nice, new size 80/12 needle, right way around.

Another issue that can be mistaken for no upper tension is what I call "caterpillars" -- thread loops that form because you've not hung on to the top and bottom threads for the first few stitches. Usually caterpillars only last for about an inch or so of seam, then straighten out and the rest of the seam is ok.

I get the thread loops question so often from newbies that I did a series of photos of stitching from a misthreaded machine -- samples are on muslin, in pairs, blue thread in the top of the machine, red thread in the bobbin,

Kay

Is the Singer 337 one that is only happy with a Singer brand needle? Last night we discovered that our Brother embroidery machine would just sing with a Schmetz metallica needle. It surely makes a difference to have a needle that is just right. Polly

"Kay Lancaster" <

Kay, What a great set of pictures, showing how the tension can cause problems with any machine. The few simple rules all of you have written are certainly worth remembering.

Emily

That is one thing I learned early on, when I bought my first non-Singer machine; use Singer needles for all Singer machines, I use Singers even in the 1898 model; I use Pfaff needles in the Pfaff machines, but find Schmetz are perfect for all other brands.

Emily

Oddly, I find that Schmetz or any of the other German brands work perfectly in all my machines that take the standard domestic needle, from my 1923 hand crank Singer 66K, the 28K, the 15-88 treadle, the Featherweight, the 99K FrankenSinger, the 367, and the Featherweight

100, and on through the other machines up to my 1150MDA Bernina serger. The only one I don't use Schmetz in is the 1909 Jones Family CS, which uses a different needle system. I have some Organ needles (to be avoided at all costs otherwise: very brittle and break easily in faster machines) and some Gros-Bekert needles for that one as it takes a needle system now usually only found in commercial bartack machines.

I haven't bought Singer needles since I was a child. I was once given a pack of new s Singer needles, and every single one was faulty. If I'd had a receipt for them, I'd have taken them back. In all the years of using them I've only ever had one SAcmetz needle that was faulty out of the pack, and that had the flat side ground off at the wrong angle! The eye was round the side somewhere when the needle was flat to the back in my Lily! Looked very odd.

Rhein make the Bernina needles. I think they may also make needles for Elna and Pfaff. You don't often see them for sale under their own name, except in the boxes of 100 bought by schools and the like. I never bother with the machine branded needles as they are exactly the same as the non-branded ones in everything except price. I tend to buy my standard 70's, 80's and 90''s Univeral needles in the 100 boxes, and the

10 packs in the same size of Scmetze jersey/knit needles.

Well, Kate. Well, well, well. I am just SO surprised. I've thought for years that some SMs just had to have a Singer needle and you say that is not so. I accept that you have done more stitching than Mr. Singer himself. Even the 1923 hank crank you say? Wonderful. I do have one and profoundly thought we'd have to go on an archeological dig or something to find her the right needle. What happy news - although I'm more than a little embarrassed to have been suggesting Singer needles for elderly Singers. Polly

"Kate >>

I think part of this thinking is a hang-over from the Olden Days (TM), when Singer DID make the best sewing machine needles, certainly for Singer machines. Unfortunately, along with so much that was good, Singer started outsourcing their needle manufacturing several decades ago - like about 1970. The needles are now just branded, not made by Singer at all, and they are made down to a price in the Far East.

If you have some of the old 60's or earlier paper packs of needles, hoard them carefully. So long as they are unused and bright and shiny, they are still some of the best needles made for older Singer machines. That said, I've been using Schmetz needles in my 1923 Singer 66K hand Crank (my beloved Spinning Jenny!) since the day I bought her in 1976, with never a bother at all.

Today I have been sewing quilting cotton (a Victorian bodice in a 'granny print' lined with a plain dark green) and upholstery vinyl (some spats for a gent), using the Bernina. I have been using a size 90 Universal needle on the cotton (slight overkill, but I'm using a slightly thicker cotton thread just because it matches), and a 100 leather needle with Empress Mills 75 Polycore on the vinyl. Both are Schmetz needles. Both machines are running perfectly. As was the

99KFrankensinger (1948-58, depending on which bit you look at!) when I used it the other day.

The 28K hand crank clamped to the table, using a Schmetz 110 leather needle and upholstery thread in both bobbin and needle to sew the hood of my friend's Gentry kit car. It took two of us to steer the fabric, but the machine coped all right!

My chum Su on her white Singer, after I fettled the tension, sewing her beautiful silk with a size 70 Universal Schmetz needle. The Brother

1034D I'm using, and the Husqvarna Optima 190 opposite me are also fitted with Schmetz needles.

Schmetz are dead easy to get here in the UK. Klasse aren't hard to find, but Gros-Bekert and Rhein are a little harder. Worth getting if you see them/ The Rhein ones tend to be a little cheaper than the other makes.

I love to look around in other stitchers' creation stations - and yours is always delightful. I've just got to know though, Kate. What on earth is a rack of footwear doing there? Do the rest of us need one? Polly

"Kate XXXXXX"

Ah... This is not the Sewing Room, this is the Auxiliary Sewing Area, specially set up for a meeting of the Mad Sewists Of The Apocalypse. We are a group of manic frockers indulging in the exchange of skills, ideas, fabric, and experience in making frockery of The Past. In this instance it's a complete set of 18th C garments for a three day event in February next year. We started with Stays and petticoats. In this picture we are working on our Sack Back Gowns, to go over the Pocket Hoops we also made earlier (or I made, having skimmed the pattern off Su'e set from an opera house sale!).

Usually this is my Conservatory, and houses the kitchen cupboard overspill (things like spare coffee makers and kettles, the jam cauldron, the soup cauldron, and the pressure cooker... and the fruits of my labours in the kitchen, like jam and Christmas puddings), the washer and dryer, and the hobby space, along with my demountable cutting table! Usually the only sewing that happens here is cutting and pressing. And not all of that. The shoes are part of the Outdoors Etc stuff that lives here because we have no boot room and no separate utility room. The space is variously used for cooking, making plastic models, dying cloth, entertaining, a sick animal hospita, an place for drying tents, a laudry, a greenhouse, a garden shed, a woodwoking shop, and, of course, a sewing area!

Anyone who gets boot polish or mud on any of the sewing gets nailed to the wall with my laser look, lashed to small pieces by my tongue, and anything left is then gently crucified and nailed to the door as an awful warning! :D

keeping out of the way, if they know what's good for them :)

I dunno, how often do you need to kick the sh*t out of something?

Often enough, maybe I better invest in one!

Beverly

Funny, that temporary closet rod/rack is identical to the ones I got when I moved everything out of my closet for the big bathroom remodel a couple of months ago. When that was done, I moved them into the closet for the next year or so, I'm not going to build the permanent set-up until after I have hardwood flooring installed next summer. It is really sturdy, much better than I feared it would be.

That was an Argos special: £6! I have two like that and a sturdier one my sister gave me.

And here's silly me, thinking that the purpose of a conservatory is so that Brits can have lush tropical vegetation, simply by means of growing plants in pots and bringing them into the conservatory all during the frost season.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Well, I also have a chili plant, a sweet red pepper plant and two orchids on the windowsills, and a basil plant in the kitchen. I'd love to have a house large enough to have a separate utility room, a pantry, a walk-in kitchen store, and a sewing studio large enough for the pressing station and 4 sewing machines permanently set up, along with the larger cutting area, plus a conservatory large enough for a lemon tree and a grape vine. There are a few houses like that in this area. Unfortunately they also come with a £7-10 million price tag! And acres of housework. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I had the dosh and could afford a housekeeper and a pair of skivvies to do the heavy stuff. Where's me £87m Euro Miliions lttery ticket got to...

As it is, we just go in for multi-use rooms and a much more manageable hoovering acreage! ;)