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More on Avoiding Needle Breakage

It is true that you can use any of the needle felting machines and move in any
direction BUT you are much less likely to break a needle if you move up and back
or side to side instead of making TIGHT circles. The reason is that you put
TORQUE on the needles when you move in small circles. Unlike a sewing machine
with one needle, your needle felting machine is less able to PIVOT on 5, 7 or 12
needles than it could with only one needle.

If you are just starting out with your machine and find that you are breaking a
lot of needles, then here are a few suggestions that might help you get in a
good rhythm with your machine:

1. FAST FEET. Run your machine as fast as it will run and don't slow down the
motor unless you are planning to stop moving your project.

2. SLOW HANDS. Move your project slowly under the needles. Use the tips of
you fingers to move the project. Don't try to force your project to move
faster.

3. NO CURVES (at least until you have your machine driving license and not just
a learner's permit). You are more likely to break a needle when you are moving
your project in a circular motion. You will find the rhythm of your machine and
will be able to move in a circular motion eventually, but take more care to
limit needle breakage.

4. NEEDLE GUARD ADJUSTMENT. Depending on the thickness of your project, you
should adjust the needle guard height. You want it to allow you to easily move
your project under the needles, but you don't want it to be so loose that your
project "bounces" up when the needles come up. The Babylock machines allow you
to do this with a knob on top of the machine just over the needles. Other
machines require that you use a screw driver to adjust the needle guard. It may
be a nuisance, but it is worth the trouble.

5. ADD THIN LAYERS. If you want to make something thick out of roving,
consider creating it by adding layers until it is thick enough instead of
putting down a single thick layer of roving and trying to felt it all at one
time. You are much less likely to get fibers caught around the needle guard if
you add layers as you build up the thickness.

6. USE WATER SOLUBLE STABILIZER or other foundation fabric. If you have
problem moving your project evenly under the needles or in keeping the layout
that you want intact as you work on a project, you would likely benefit from
using a stabilizer. I recommend Vilene which is a non-woven non-film washaway
stabilizer. It come in other names such as Washaway and H2O Gone. It looks
like a light weight non woven interfacing, but dissolves when you run it under
water. I have had poor results using the film type water soluble stabilizer
(like Sulky Solvy) as a foundation stabilizer.

I love the fact that someone spoke up to say THERE ARE NO RULES. I truly
believe that is true with the Embellisher and other similar machines, but I have
found that when you first start using your machine, you might benefit from
lessons learned (the hard way) by others who came before. I hope that these
guidelines will help those who are having problems but in no way restrict those
who have moved beyond these guidelines.

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More on Avoiding Needle Breakage