How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial.

In How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial, we will discover how a sewing machine works.  In How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial, we will learn how stitches are made.

The goal of the sewing machine is to make stitches. 

A sewing machine is an amazing invention.  It is a combination of many simple machines.  It combines wheels, gears, levers, and other simple machines.  The combination is an awesome complex machine.  The sewing machine might be defined as a machine that joins layers of fabric together.  In this How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial we will discover how it uses threads and needles. 

The sewing machine uses two threads to form a set of lockstitches.  These stitches sew or repeat in a line.

In  How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial,  look at a sewing machine.  When we look at a sewing machine, we see an upper and lower arm.  The lower arm has a flat area at the top.  On the left side of this lower arm, we see a needle that moves up and down.  We see a strange looking shoe like device around where the needle moves.  On the right side of the sewing machine, you see a wide area between the upper and lower arm.  This is the body of the sewing machine.  On the far right is a round wheel knows as the hand wheel.

In this How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial, take a look inside the sewing machine.  Notice the power system connects by the hand wheel.  An upper shaft turns the needle up and down.  A transfer system turns a lower shaft.  The lower shaft turns the hook system and the feed system.  The needle, the hook assembly, and the feed system must move harmoniously in perfect time.

In this How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial,  watch the thread. 

On top and to the of the upper arm or just  behind it, is a spool pin.  This is where the spool of thread goes.  Thread is drawn from this spool across the sewing machine through thread guides.  It proceeds through a tension assembly and tension spring. It goes through the take up lever.  Finally, it goes down through the needle eye.

In the lower arm is a smaller spool of thread called a bobbin. 

In this How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial, we will see how the sewing machine moves these threads to make stitches.

Roll the hand wheel of the sewing machine (located on the far right side) forward.  See the needle begins to move down actually sinking below the metal plate we call the “needle plate”. Hold the thread that was threaded through the eye of the needle in your left hand,  Continue to roll the hand wheel forward. The needle keeps going down.  Then it starts back up.  Keep rolling the hand wheel until the needle is at its highest position. Now pull the thread with your left hand.  Look under the needle. There is another thread peaking up above the needle plate. Grab hold of the thread and pull out three or four inches of it. This is the lower or bobbin thread.

In this How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial,  notice how the two threads interact. 

The way a sewing machine makes a stitch is quite amazing.  The upper thread is fed under the needle plate by the needle.  We can’t actually see what happens.  A device called a hook slides behind the needle.  It grabs the back of our upper thread. The hook pulls the upper thread around the bobbin. It wraps the upper thread around the lower thread. Then the needle moves up again.  The treads tighten together. A stitch  forms inside the fabric.

This process is repeated many times using just a little thread at a time.  A whole line of stitches form.

All stitches are fundamentally the same. They begin as a single locked stitch. Straight stitches are a series of these stitches sewn in a straight light or curve.

If you lengthen the stitch you achieve a basting stitch.

If you shorten the stitch you get a fine stitch.

When you add width to the stitch, it forms what we call a zig zag stitch. Essentially, the needlebar moves to the left and makes a stitch. Then it moves to the right and makes a stitch.  Back and forth the stitches form a zig zag.

When you shorten a zig zag stitch so that the threads lie side by side, a satin stitch results.

If you sew two stitches forward and then one stitch backward, you produce a reinforced or stretch stitch.

Alter the movement of the stitch length, width, and  direction. A host of different stitches are produced.  Some sewing machines today contain up to a thousand built in stitches. 

When all is said, this How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial reveals the same basic operation in all sewing machines. 

How Does A Sewing Machine Work Tutorial.