What do sewing machine repair and servicing professionals do that you can’t do yourself at home? And what CAN you do at home to make problems with your machine less likely? And what noises coming from your machine should you definitely NOT ignore? These are just some of the many questions that sewing machine technician, Bizz McKilligan, answers for us today. I first spoke to Bizz over a year ago when she’d just started up her sustainability-focused sewing store, The Green Thimble. She gives us an update on how it’s going and what she’s learnt over that time.
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You can learn online about sewing machine maintenance and repair via Sewing Doc Academy.
Bizz McKilligan in her self-made hoodie!:
Bizz McKilligan is the owner of The Green Thimble, an online and bricks and mortar sewing shop in Victoria, Canada, that helps to recirculate existing sewing resources. Here’s their new logo:
Follow them on Instagram @thegreenthimble.ca.
Listen to Bizz’s first appearance on CYT:
- Ep. #120: How to care for your sewing machine with Bizz McKilligan
If you rely on a needle threader but your machine’s one keeps breaking, Bizz recommends purchasing an external needle threader like this one:
Check out Bizz’s incredible self made knit dress that she made for, and wore at, a Frocktails event:
Sewing Doc Academy has wonderful programs to help you learn all about your machine. I sew on vintage machines that can be dunked in oil and finding someone to service them has gotten harder and harder. Now I do my own work and haven’t run into anything I couldn’t solve on an all metal machine. I’m getting ready to fix the stitch length regulator on my daughter’s 1950’s zig zag after she called 10+ repair places in Chicago. Every single one told her, “No one works in those machines, they aren’t worth fixing.” What an environmental disaster! You can learn something tricky and mostly it isn’t too hard.
Great episode once again and I’m going to take my modern serger in for service immediately.