How do I clean and oil a sewing machine?

Almost everything that goes wrong with a domestic sewing machine short of an electrical fault is caused by compacted lint, an old needle, or the wrong thread. Cleaning is therefore not maintenance in the sense of prolonging life so much as it is the first line of fault-finding. Do it before you conclude the machine is broken.

Safety

What you'll need

• The machine's manual — oiling points vary and some machines must not be oiled
• A stiff lint brush, and a small screwdriver for the needle plate
• Proper sewing machine oil, if your machine takes it (optional)
• A fresh needle
• Tweezers
• A strip of thin cotton or unwaxed dental floss

Step by step

1. Unplug it at the wall.Not just switched off. You will have your fingers around the needle bar and the hook.
2. Read what your manual says about oil.This matters more than any general advice. Many modern machines are sealed and lubricated for life, and adding oil does nothing useful and can migrate onto the fabric. Older mechanical machines need it regularly and seize without it. Find your model's manual — almost all are free online.
3. Remove the needle, foot, bobbin and bobbin case.Take the needle out and throw it away rather than putting it back. Needles are the cheapest thing in the room and a machine being cleaned is a machine that has been used enough to need a new one.
4. Take the needle plate off.Usually one or two small screws, or a release button on newer models. Under it you will find a surprising amount of packed lint, especially if you have been sewing fleece, flannel or towelling.
5. Brush, do not blow.Work the lint out with a stiff brush and lift the larger pieces with tweezers. Compressed air and blowing both push lint further into the mechanism and add moisture. A small vacuum with a crevice nozzle held nearby is fine for catching what the brush releases.
6. Clean the bobbin race and the hook.Brush all round the race. Check for thread wrapped round the hook shaft and for burrs or nicks on the hook point — a burr shreds thread and needs a technician. On machines with a removable race, follow the manual for taking it out and putting it back in the correct position.
7. Clear the tension discs.With the presser foot raised so the discs are open, run a folded strip of thin cotton fabric or a length of unwaxed dental floss up and down between them a few times. Compacted lint here is a very common cause of tension faults that no dial adjustment can fix.
8. Wipe the thread path.Every guide, the take-up lever slot and the spool pin. A rough spot or a nick in a guide frays thread and looks like a tension problem.
9. Oil only where the manual marks it, one drop at a time.Use proper sewing machine oil, which is clear, thin and non-gumming. One drop per point, no more. Excess oil attracts lint and eventually reaches the fabric.
10. Run it and sew off on scrap.After oiling, run the machine unthreaded for half a minute to distribute the oil, then sew several lines on a scrap of old fabric to absorb any oil that has reached the needle area. Only then start on your project.
11. Fit a new needle and rethread.Then sew a test seam and check the stitch on both faces before assuming the job is done.
12. Cover it when not in use.The hard case or the dust cover. Airborne dust settles into the tension unit and the race, and a machine left uncovered for a year needs a much deeper clean.

Tips

• Clean under the needle plate every few projects, and always after sewing anything fluffy — fleece, flannel, wadding, towelling, minky.
• Never use household oil, three-in-one oil, cooking oil or WD-40. They gum, they attract dirt, and some will stain fabric permanently. Sewing machine oil is inexpensive and a bottle lasts years.
• If the machine has been unused for several years, expect old oil to have hardened. Turning the handwheel and finding it stiff is a reason for a proper service rather than more oil.
• A computerised machine that behaves erratically after cleaning may simply need to be switched off at the wall for a minute and restarted.

Common mistakes

• Blowing into the machine or using compressed air — Both push lint deeper into bearings where a brush cannot reach it, and breath adds moisture into a steel mechanism.
• Oiling a sealed machine — Modern lubricated-for-life machines have no oiling points, and oil introduced anyway migrates out onto the thread path and then onto the fabric.
• Using WD-40 or general household oil — They are the wrong viscosity, they gum as they age, and they can stain. WD-40 in particular is a water displacer, not a lubricant, and washes existing lubricant out.
• Reassembling the bobbin race the wrong way — On machines where the race comes out, it must go back in a specific position or the machine will jam or lose its timing. Follow the manual precisely.

If it doesn't work

Keeping on top of it

• Brush lint from the bobbin area and feed dogs, with the needle plate off (Every few projects, always after fluffy fabric)
• Change the needle (Every project, or after about eight hours of sewing)
• Clear the tension discs with a cotton strip (Every few months, or when tension becomes erratic)
• Oil at the manual's marked points, if the machine takes oil (As the manual states — often every few hours of use on older machines)
• Full service by a technician (Every one to three years depending on use)

Questions people ask