Fig. 138. Chain-stitch machine.

1.Cloth Plate10.Embroidery Spring19.Small Wheel
2.Presser Foot11.Pull Off20.Belt
3.Needle-Bar Nut12.Spool-Pin21.Shaft
4.Needle-Bar13.Spool-Pin Holder22.Frame
5.Needle-Bar Screw14.Automatic Tension23.Stitch Regulator
6.Foot Bar15.Tension Rod24.Cap
7.Lever16.Ball Stud25.Looper
8.Liftee17.Lever Stud26.Link
9.Take Up18.Connecting Rod27.Feed Bar
28. Feed Surface

Always regulate the stitch and the size of needle for each size and kind of thread used. A table for this usually comes with each machine, or is often stamped on the machine. Select the thread suitable to the material. The number of a needle is marked on the shank. Needles made for one kind of machine will not always work on another.

An automatic tension should not be changed or meddled with. Some tensions must be adjusted to the thread. Follow directions coming with the machine for adjusting tensions. Remove any thread which has become entangled in the mechanism of the machine.

Never use a bent needle. A bent needle drops stitches on a chain-stitch machine. Soaping the needle helps it to go thru goods difficult to penetrate.

When a machine runs hard, it needs oil or has become gummed up with poor oil. When gummed, clean with kerosene oil. Thread or ravelings wound about the axles of the wheels also makes the machine run hard. Learn to use the attachments of your machine—take care that they do not become bent.

The lock-stitch does not rip easily.

The ends of the thread of chain stitches should be carefully fastened. If started from the end where the seam was completed, the loop stitch may be easily unraveled and thus save time when mistakes are made in sewing or when garments are being made over.