hi I'm Rob Appell from man sewing and I
think I can fix just about anything but
I really work primarily in the textile
world I have my training as a sewing
machine technician but I'm also a master
quilter and educator I can't wait to
show you what we've got for you today
hey Rob much for having me thanks for
coming over this is also an amazing
space you have so many sewing machine
too and these are just the ones you can
see I've got a hidden everywhere oh my
goodness
tell us a little bit about your
background and how you got started how
much fun I really started in my mom's
quilt shop the cotton bag which is here
in Morro Bay she had the opportunity to
bring any sewing machine dealership but
one of the rules was that in order to
sell the machines you had to be able to
fix with some new sheets I went through
several days of training and you have to
be part of the dealership and you go
focus on that brand specific models
they're most current stuff where they're
teaching you the technology but I didn't
even know what a handle it was or a
stitch plate was or a presser foot was
give me some examples of maybe something
that I could do myself with my own
sewing less sure I'm gonna give you the
most common phone call I get okay then I
fix over the phone and I sound like a
genius how's that sound so our common
mistake a lot of folks make is they
thread the machine with the presser foot
down and a lot of the reason that it's a
mistake is folks don't realize that the
presser foot opens the tension so the
phone call is I just rethreaded the
Machine and I've got a bunch of thread
under the project so on the bottom side
everyone thinks it's the bobbin because
the bobbins under the project but it's
the fact that the disks were closed the
thread sat on top of the tension and
made a giant caterpillar on the back of
the project so when is it a good time to
take it to a professional and and maybe
not risk to repair yourself about every
two years the machine should go in for a
routine oil clean maintenance because
there's bushings in the machines or all
kinds of parts inside the machines and a
professional needs to deal with and we
don't want people trying to strip down
the machines there's Electronics
everywhere and stuff like that but today
that machines are controlled by a little
electronic stepping motors and so we
both service the machines mechanically
and electronically I saw a couple of
maintenance videos really recently on
your channel so tell us a little bit
about how you got started on on like
being in front of the camera and showing
people
not only maintenance but how to so man
sewing is what I think you're referring
to that's my youtube channel and so
every Monday we put out a free tutorial
that is education about sewing quilting
and a lot of folks were asking can you
give us some maintenance stuff so we did
tension we did timing and we did overall
cleaning and oiling of the machines
there's three separate videos
I don't have a brand paying me to teach
this I'm teaching it cuz I think it's
what everybody needs to know so for
someone who maybe is just starting out
and really wants to get into sewing they
they have a machine right what would you
recommend that they have in their house
for possibly maintenance or just making
sure that they they're staying on track
and saying creative sure well one of the
things I do is I always use like a nylon
brush that has kind of a big bristle
pipe cleaner on one side and a small
like a peat brush head on the other I
want folks dusting their machines with a
brush and not with a can of spray or
using good quality threads and good
quality fabric just makes the machines
more lint-free good needle having a
sewing machine oil so we never use three
in one oil there's a specific sewing
machine oil that is super super clear so
I believe that people should really
understand the full function of the
machine and I don't I believe that
nobody knows more about their machine
really speaking of tinkering and taking
things apart I see this machine oh yeah
it looks like you've been customizing it
a little bit can we see it yeah yeah
yeah so being able to repair it also you
can be creative so I know how to take it
completely apart so I stripped it down
and totally repainted it but all of my
working parts my attention and
everything stayed cool because I took it
off so didn't get any residual spray
paint but some of the other things I
like to do is at one point like these
are LED lights and there usually is one
of them connected there's another
modification up in here there's a bank
of LED lights Wow oh this can get very
bright inside of here people can do
people can put on thread towers on their
sewing machines because this helps the
thread peel off more successfully so why
do you think it's important to learn the
art of sewing let's start with mending
and the construction and being able to
repair and recycle things and then of
course I love to create
process and being able to think up
something you know whether it's curtains
for the van I lived out of the
snowboarding jacket I made before they
made snowboarding jackets or art for the
walls and all that kind of stuff but the
warm spot in my heart that it's giving
me in my community like I go out in my
community and I'm like I'm proud like I
walk through town I feel like I fixed
her machine and I helped with this
project and we chose colors for this
project and it's just it's a really
special place to be especially in a
small town so what if someone is
watching this video right now right
could be you and they're super inspired
and they want to get started where where
should they start where should a
beginner just like who's never picked up
a needle and thread before right go um
well first I'm gonna say I'm very
accessible so Rob at man sewing calm is
my email address and I'm happy to answer
questions I may not get them right away
but I will answer those questions then
my youtube channel is man sewing on
YouTube and there's a variety of
different kinds of videos there so they
can really get involved but we have all
the other kind of social media too so
people want to just lurk for a while and
see what people are talking about but
for the different kinds of content
whether there are maintenance videos on
machines or how to make a quilt or how
to make a I just did a fun customized
sweatshirt kind of thing those kinds of
things so those are all on the You Tube
channel well thank you so much for
having that as I should coming out oh I
am gonna stick around so you can show me
a couple of things