We recommend changing your needle every 6-8 hours of stitching. A bent or nicked needle is the culprit for 80% of the issues with sewing machines. Switching out your needle is the easiest way to maintain your machine and keep it running smoothly.

Yes, it can. Sewing over pins is probably the biggest reason for burred needles. Burred needles can catch and tear the thread. If you’re sewing over needles, your machine will start skipping stitches or making unusual noises. And, as referenced above, overused, scarred, or burred needles are some of the most common problem-causers in machines.

Mettler, Glide, and Gutermann are our top recommendations for quilting thread. For embroidery machines, we recommend Isacord and Floriani’s 100% polyester thread. 

High-quality thread is very important. We’ve had machines brought to us for repair. When we replaced the thread with a higher-quality version, the machine began working again!

Yes, you do. But the frequency depends on where you live. Say you live in a desert climate. . . you may need to oil your machine every day. But if you live in a very wet climate, you may only need to oil it every few days. 

When you oil your machine, you’ll only need 3 drops–one for each spot. No more than that is necessary. In fact, too much oil can harm your machine. In a high-speed, intricately built machine, oil can get onto the electronics and computer boards and cause damage.

If you come into the shop, we’ll be happy to show you how and where to oil.

Yes! You can test any of our machines. We always keep a certain number of machines in cabinets so people can try them out, but we can take any model out of the box so you can try it out.