Sewing machine noises!

My machine has been making strange noises and I think I've figured out the culprits!

Thudding noise! Turns out the needle was a little blunt! It still seemed to sew quite happily but was thudding every time the needle went in. I have read various articles about how often to change your needle. Some say after a bobbins worth. Some say at the start of every new project. Some say after so many hours of sewing. Well, truth be told, I am a Northerner at heart, so think I felt the idea of chucking the needle away unless it was either snapped or bent out of all recognition, was a little rash! Turns out the machine ain't too happy sewing with a blunt needle! Out of respect for my machine (and for my pocket!!), I changed the needle. I guess the machine was finding it harder work to push the blunt needle through the layers of fabric - common sense really!

Clanking noises! Clatter, clatter, bang bang - or summit like that! My machine was getting increasingly noisy. It sounded like something was loose or out of sync. It got gradually louder and louder over time, almost imperceptibly so. It was only when my friend brought her machine over that I had to acknowledge that it had indeed got rather loud! Not only that, the machine was messing me about rather a lot recently. Sometimes it would snag even before it had stitched a stitch. It would also often not complete a stitch - the needle would go up and down but never would the upper thread go anywhere near the lower thread! I had taken it apart and fiddled with the hook race cover, the bobbin etc to feel if anything was loose! In the end, I declared sackcloth and ashes were in order....there was no doubt about it, my machine was going to die an untimely death at any second! Boo-hoo! This can't be happening! Then a eureka moment, like a bolt out the blue....my friend declares that it probably just needs oiling! To which I scoffed and said "Oil, it can't be that!". Boy did I have to eat my words! As much as to prove that it couldn't possibly be that, I dutifully took out the oil that came with the machine and squirted it into the inner workings of the machine (supposedly following the manufacturers instructions....if only I could locate them!!). And as if by magic - yes you guessed it - my machine was brought back from the brink and ran as smooth as a baby's bum!

Gosh how I ever manage to sew anything at all is nothing short of a miracle! My poor machine is operated by a rookie! Luckily so far, I haven't actually managed to kill it completely, just made it struggle for a while!