Every time you change a bobbin, if you sew regularly — and always after working with anything that sheds.
Fleece, flannel, wadding, towelling and jersey all produce lint far faster than woven cotton. So does cheap thread.
Why it matters more than it sounds. Lint packs into the bobbin race and around the feed dogs, where it mixes with any lubricant present and forms a paste. That paste changes how the hook picks up the thread, which produces skipped stitches and tension faults. The overwhelming majority of machines taken in for repair need cleaning, not repairing.
The two-minute routine. Unplug. Remove the needle, presser foot, throat plate and bobbin case. Brush the feed dogs and the bobbin race with a stiff brush, and pick out what the brush loosens rather than blowing it deeper. Wipe the tension discs by running a folded strip of clean fabric between them. Reassemble with a fresh needle.
Do not use compressed air. It drives lint further into the mechanism and can force moisture in with it.
Do not oil unless your manual says to. Many current machines are sealed and lubricated for life, and adding oil to one only carries lubricant somewhere it can reach fabric. Read the manual before you open the bottle.
Questions people actually ask
My machine has never been cleaned.
Do it now, and expect to be surprised by how much comes out. If it has been years and the machine is misbehaving, a full service is worth it — but clean it first, because that may be the whole fault.
Do I need to clean an overlocker more often?
Considerably. It trims fabric as it sews, so it generates offcuts continuously. Clean it after every session, not every project.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11