Mrs. Fixit - Whoda Thunk?

Yesterday my 3-year-old son asked me if he could help me sew. He asks periodically, and my answer is usually, "Not right now." I want my kids to see what it's all about, and I feel bad saying no, so yesterday I said, "Sure!" I grabbed the closest fabric scrap from my heap (and it is a heap) which happened to be knit. He chose a decorative stitch on the machine. I put the fabric in, and he pressed the pedal. Within a few seconds it was obvious the fabric wasn't advancing, so I knew something was wrong. I quickly realized that both the fabric and the thread had been pulled down into the hole in the metal plate beneath the needle. I gently (and not so gently) pulled at the threads sticking out. Some came out; some did not. I tried stitching a little to see if that would pull things through, but all that did was to get my bobbin messed up, and the doohicky that holds the bobbin was not sitting at a funny angle. Ak. I figured my machine was headed to the shop. The only shop I knew of, the one from which this machine had come, had closed permanently months ago. I don't know of another, but tried to search online for one. All I came up with was supply shops and unrelated stores. Despair set in. Then I wondered if I might find a sewing machine repair video on youtube or something. I bombed there, too. There was only one option left. Do it myself. Because I know that doing that sort of thing without some kind of guidance was not a good idea, I appealed (as always) to the online group Sewing Mamas. I received some kind replies, and encouragement to go ahead and give it a shot. Encouraged, I did just that.

Ok, the first issue was that the screw on the metal plate that needed to come out was in a difficult spot. How was I going to get a screwdriver in there?? Well, I pulled on the the cover of the upper part of the sewing machine, et voila, it swung out of the way. Nice! Lots more space.

 There's the screw. I don't know if you can see it here, but the bobbin holder (does it have a fancier name?) is being pushed up by stuff caught underneath it.

 The plate came off easily.

 The bobbin holder popped right out.

 Here's the thread...and about a ton of LINT. Whoa. One of the Sewing Mamas suggested that I use my serger tweezers and some Q-tips to remove the thread and lint.

 I brought 2 Q-tips down, thinking I'd have a spare just in case. I soon realized two was not enough!

Guess I should be doing this more often, eh? See the piles in the right of the picture? Yeesh.

I also de-linted the upper part of the machine, since it was open and linty looking. I put it all back together, tested it, and it works fine. How much time and money and hassle would it have been to take it to a shop? I'm so pleased with myself!

Think I'll go buy myself a sewing machine repair book. =)