You and Your Sewing Machine: A Sewist’s Guide to Troubleshooting, Maintenance, Tips & Techniques (A Field Guide)

This is a must have book in every sewists library. Even for someone like me who has been sewing for 50 years. His clear explanations and pictures soak in like no other book in my expansive sewing library.

Ordering this was a bit of a crap shoot for me, I wasn't sure what I was going to get. Machine maintenance can vary so widely depending on the kind of machine (s) oneay have and often is hard to touch on things generally at the same time they do have the same basic mechanics.I do feel this book offers some new information I didn't know and provides pictures and steps to help in sharing knowledge.I was hoping it would go a bit in depth further so that I would feel a bit more comfortable taking the whole exterior apart on my home sew machines, I also like that he touches on the different styles of hooks and some differences between home machines and industrial.Overall I would say this is excellent for foundation knowledge if you do not have that already. And professional guidance/ validation if you've already delved into your machine to try to fix it yourself 😂 definitely a worthwhile purchase to add to the sewing and machine knowledge library.

The pictures, and explanations are very clear. It is so interesting, I haven’t been able to put the book down since I got it. I wish I had had this book a couple of years ago, it might have saved a machine I ruined. My current machine will be much happier. I now under stand the workings of the machine much better. I found the relationship between the needle, thread and fabric very helpful. The explanation on upper and lower tension very helpful as well. I can vouch for the information on bobbins. I recently was sewing with no problems and suddenly the machine stitches were loose as though tension was a problem. After trying several things I discovered when I changed the color of thread and bobbin, the new bobbin looked the same as the previous, but wasn’t. It was a generic that looked the same, but the machine knew the difference. Once I changed the bobbin to one with the right logo on it, the machine sewed beautifully again. I will be getting this book for one of my sewing friends as a Christmas gift as I think it is that great.

My mother taught me how to sew when I was 9 years old and I learned on a very basic machine. When I was 16 I was gifted my first sewing machine and I have had several since. I was never formally taught how to troubleshoot or maintain my machine and I have recently taken up sewing again after a few years. My husband noticed that I would just kinda look at a very old instruction manual and figure it out. Well after just getting by all these years I decided to buy a book. I am not disappointed. This book had ALOT of pictures and not just one type but several different pictures of the same things. This is now my go too when I hear something or see a stitch get tangled. I also like how easy it is to just have it nearby instead of searching through endless videos or trying to find your exact problem.I do suggest just sitting down and reading the book as I was able to read so tips and tricks right off the bat that I had no idea!! Must buy for a beginner.

I am so glad I have read this book. I am a beginner sewer using a hand-me-down machine. I can't believe all of the mistakes I was making with my machine and how these error contributed to crappy looking stitches. This book is a HUGE help to a beginner and would likely help others as well. The photos and text are very clear to understand making this an easy read. Worth the price and I am so glad I bought it.

It has so much easily readable info about my machines. It isn't machine specific. Excellent pix and so well written. A 10 year old could learn from this book.

My husband just started working at a quilt shop and is learning how to service and fix sewing machines, from home sewing to long arms. He said this book is very informative.

Very informative book. I especially liked the sections about tension and needle selection.

I have been using a sewing machine for as long as I can remember and along the way have encountered problem with quality of stitching and have gone though the usual change needle, change bobbin , rethread , clean etc without actually knowing the rationale. I didn’t know this book existed .... the times I have messed up my tensioning. I received this book yesterday and already have found little dents on my needle plate where needles have hit which has affected my stitches ( I had no idea) . There is quite a large needle hole in the plastic bobbin case .... I think I bent a needle when I first got my machine .... This must be the best reference book I have ever purchased....

I saw a review about this book by a very experienced sewer and it came highly recommended. The book did not disappoint. I havie been sewing since I was a young child, but I still learned a great deal from this obviously, very knowledgeable author, and I know it will prove to be a great resource to dip into in the future. It is so much easier to sew well and efficiently when one can understand “the guts” of the machine, especially the sophisticated machines being produced today, and this certainly educates in a very clear, easy to understand manner with lots of photos and examples. Good to be able to troubleshoot individual problems oneself, especially if the service engineer/dealer is some distance away. Can not recommend this book highly enough!

Brilliant, if you own a sewing machine you should get this book and read it ,before sending your machine for a service.Lots of tips for a misbehaving machine .Machine Probably needs tweaking ..This book was written by a mechanic with lots of machine experience. I’m not parting with my copy.

I saw this in the Quilt Show and thought it was just what I was looking for - well, it was...kinda! It didn't live up to expectations, most of the info was already contained in my user manual. There were some really interesting 'additions' but all in all, I don't feel that was worth purchasing.

Everything I needed to know about care and optimisation of my 40 year old machine. Americanisms a bit annoying; sewist is a ridiculous word