If you want to take in waists, or even create new items of clothing, it's time to get a machine. But first, how to thread a sewing machine?

The spool pin holds a thread spool on a homeowner machine but it serves as a guide on an industrial. Pass the thread through the upper hole first, from back to front (toward you).

A sewing machine is a fantastically useful thing to own, but too often sewing machines end up languishing in a closet because something wasn't working quite right the last time you tried to use it ...