My sewing machine is driving me crazy

Hi,

I’m a beginner and bought a used Brother NV10A sewing machine on eBay, which I’ll be using to gain my first experience. At first, everything worked wonderfully, and I sewed five pillowcases to match my sofa.
Then the problems started—the upper thread keeps breaking, and the bobbin thread gets tangled too. Some of the pieces I’ve sewn are unusable and end up in the trash, and the needle even breaks from time to time. So I take the bobbin out and put it back in, insert a new needle, and thread the machine, but after sewing just a few centimeters (a simple, straight seam), the whole thing starts all over again.
The bobbin thread tension should be fine, and the machine adjusts it automatically.

Can anyone give me a tip on how to solve this problem?

Thank you,
Thekla

Hi Thekla,
I’m afraid I can’t help you with this, but I’d recommend looking for a relevant group on Facebook. There are lots of groups there for people interested in sewing, for both beginners and more experienced sewists.
Just type “sewing” into the Facebook search bar and you’ll find plenty of groups.
You’ll definitely get better and faster help there.
Best regards
Petra

Okay, thanks for the tip! Then I’ll try my luck there :-)

Best regards,
Thekla

Do you have the manual?
If so, I’d recommend giving it a thorough cleaning.
 The thread may not be guided correctly through the tension,
or the needle might be inserted too high or too low.
Or there might be a separate setting for different fabrics.
I didn’t know the tension adjusted itself—but then again, I only have an older machine, and that feature wasn’t available on it.

...mine always does that when it needs a drop of oil—I can’t say for sure if that’ll help you, but it’s worth a try. Of course, make sure to clean everything thoroughly first...

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a manual with it.
I’m going to clean the machine again as best I can and oil it a bit—it can’t hurt.

Thank you all for your answers!

I had the same problem,
especially when my machine had been sitting idle for a while. The only thing that really helps is to clean everything thoroughly with a brush—removing lint and oiling the moving parts—and loosening the thread tension slightly.
If that doesn’t help, I can only advise you to take the machine in for a tune-up. Be sure to get a cost estimate first, though—it could easily run up to 150 euros.