Sewing Machine Making Wierd Noises! UPDATE!

[sparkprincess]

I had my sewing lesson last night and it turns out few of the settings were off. Like it was set to do double-needle sewing! The instructor showed me everything I need to know about the machine, made sure I had the right needles, the right feet, etc, etc. The machine sounds fine now and is sewing fine! Yay! I didn't screw it up after all!

Thanks for all the input!
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Gah! I'm such a newbie!!

I have my great-grandmother's sewing machine - I think it's probably 25-30 years old. It's a great machine. I had it serviced just under a year ago, but haven't used it until today. Pathetic, I know!!

Anyway, I did manage to sew up a kid-sized body pillow from some fleece today. That went fine, but I started hearing what sounds like percolator-type noises coming from the machine!! Any idea on what that could be? Then the needle broke!

Also, it seems like I have to know the correct combination of plate, needle, foot, and stitch type. Is that correct? Why does this seem so complicated? :

I did break down and schedule myself for a lesson at our local Sew 'n Vac. I can take my machine in and they'll teach me all I need to know about it. But in the meantime I would love any advice/insight.

Thanks!

[eepster]

You weren't sewing over pins were you?

[sabrinat]

If it's been sitting and you haven't used it once every few months, you might need to oil and lube it. If you have the manual it should tell you where to oil the machine.

[mumkimum]

Could be dust accumulation - a good cleaning by you and blowing off with one of those compressed air cans in the bobbin area & elsewhere could help. Especially if you hadn't used it in a year.

Fleece can get especially pesky dust and linty-like stuff in a machine's workings - which can compress and jam up a needle. Whenever I sew fleece it always gets worse in there.

[sparkprincess]

Good advice. Thanks ladies!!

I didn't hit a pin, but I bet it does need to be dusted...and I'm sure some oil wouldn't hurt either! I'll just have to get some!