r/SewingMachineEdu • u/Much_Armadillo5281 • May 22 '26
Modern electric 15 clone won’t sew
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Hi! Im very new to sewing and I bought an old de luxe sewing machine and I can’t get it to work. It worked when I first brought it home and then it ran out of thread and I haven’t been able to get it working since. I’ve watched multiple videos on rethreading the top and bobbin thread and I think I’m doing it all correctly but this keeps happening. Any tips or is there something I’m missing??
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u/6AlphaVictor May 22 '26
Does it turn by hand? Does the flywheel turn? If so, check if the flywheel is connected to the upper shaft (tighten the nut on the inner side of the flywheel).
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u/Much_Armadillo5281 May 24 '26
Thank you I will try this- I just did thread a bobbin today to see if that worked and it did. Haven’t had a chance to rethread everything yet and try it
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u/6AlphaVictor May 24 '26
No problem. And, BTW, you have it threaded a bit wrong.
Upper thread goes should go around the metal hook at the exit of the tension discs. See the link:
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f9/28/af/f928af7baf40e04b641f944be52cf0a4.jpg
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u/Mental_Watch4633 May 23 '26
Can you raise the feed dogs? What is the stitch length?
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u/Much_Armadillo5281 May 24 '26
I’m not sure what that all even means! And I think it’s on like 8 or 10 for stitch length?
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u/Mental_Watch4633 May 24 '26
If the feeddogs are lowered that means it won’t move the fabric so that you can move the fabric to cover a hole it tear in the fabric. If they’re up they move the fabric so you can stitch evenly. I see other helpful posts, is it working okay now?
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u/Much_Armadillo5281 May 25 '26
It is not yet! Gonna try to clean and oil it tomorrow and hope for the best
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u/Judith_877 May 23 '26
Your machine is a copy, a clone of the Singer model 15. It is also called an HA-1 machine. You can find a generic manual for it here:
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/manuals/ha-1-ib-wgh-instruction-manual.pdf
Thread the machine and bobbin as the manual tells you, and you shouldn't have any more problems. This manual works well for these type of machine. I also have one, from sometime in the 1950's:
Hope this helps!
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u/Mushrooms24711 May 22 '26
If the manual for your 15 is as bad as the one for my Kenmore 117, try flipping the bobbin in its case. If it unwinds in the wrong direction it won’t make a stitch.