Sewing machines and sergers should be professionally serviced yearly, especially if you are not using them regularly. Remember, a sewing machine is a piece of machinery with moving parts. Your machine can lock up if it is not serviced on a regular basis. A good service person adjusts tension and timing during regular service, as well as cleaning areas of the machine that you cannot reach without taking the machine completely apart. Simply cleaning out the lint and oiling the machine yourself, although important, is not the same as having the machine properly serviced by a professional.

Do not use canned air on a sewing machine. You will blow as much lint into the machine as you will blow out, covering all oiled parts in fine grit, causing premature wear. You can use a Q-tip or micro-vacuum to remove the lint from your bobbin area.

Your needle should be changed every eight hours of sewing time. Think about how many times the needle is going up and down through fabric when you're sewing. That's a lot of friction, dulling the needle. A dull needle punches holes rather than slipping through the weave, breaking the threads in your fabric. Needles are inexpensive, so change them often.

Computerized sewing machines are much, much easier to use. Your stitch length, width, and tension are automatically set with the touch of a button. There are fewer tension problems with computerized sewing machines, so you don't have to waste time struggling with tension.

This is just not true. The metal casing on older machines does not make the machines sew any better. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. Today’s quality sewing machines are all metal on the insides. The casings are plastic to make the machine lighter and more portable.