Needle will not move up or down

There are many reasons why the sewing machine needle will not move and becomes jammed.

I will put these in order.

• 1. The bobbin winder may be still be engaged after last use. The winder could possibly have been left in winding position causing the bobbin winder to spin but the auto de-clutch mechanism will stop the drive to the need bar shaft - Move bobbin winder unit back fully to the left or rearward to engage sewing mode.
• 2. On older machines, the clutch in the hand wheel may have been left out of gear after bobbin winding - check clutch and if necessary re-tighten the small thumb screw in the center of the hand wheel.
• 3. On some electronic machines if the pull down buttonhole lever was lowered when machine was placed in buttonhole mode, and was not pushed fully up after use. For safety the machine will not operate, if the buttonhole lever is not in the full up position.
• 4. Presser foot maybe in up position, many modern machines will not sew until the presser foot is lowered - check and lower presser foot.

If your sewing machine suddenly stops and the needle will not move.

• There is a possibility that the motor belt has snapped, or jummed off its the motor pully. If this happends, while presssing on the foot control you will be able to here the motor spinning, but there would nt no drive to the needle. A trip to a sewing machine engineer may be needed.
• On older models of about 20-30 years, the plastic gears may become brittle, crack and teeth may sheer off the gear or gears. Gears can be replaced. Please check out some of other FAQ's to find out how to replace a gear and retime the sewing machine afterwards.
• The foot control can become too hot (while it is being used at a slow speed for a concederable lenght of time) The foot control may need to be replaced if is smells, which would indecate it has burnt out.
• While you are stitching a thread jam may occur. First you need to remove the threads form around the bobbin case, cut them out if necessary. check the bobbin case is not damaged in any way, and use a brand new needle. If your machine becomes jammed up, it may not be aparent at first, but there is a very high chance the needle will be bent, replace it with a brand new needle of the correct type for the material being sewn.
  Re-thread the machine, using the correct type of thred for the materail being sewn, and start your seam again.
• If you find your sewing machine is constantly jamming, even after changing the needle, using the correct thread of a good quality, making 100% sure the top thread is being threaded correcly, may be even purchasing a new bobbin case, and fault-finding all the above...! It is ready for a service.