Kenmore 158.1813 User manual

Instruction Manual
158.1813
Sewconsult.com 2002
Div. Sewing Educational Warehouse

Section
Page 1
Section
I
Knowing Your Sewing Machine
Identifying Parts . . .... ... ...... ...... . . .... . . .2, 2,3
Installing Machine . . .... . . .... . . .... ... .... . . ... 4
Threading of Top Thread ... ...... . . ..... . . ... 5
Winding the Bobbin . . . .... . . .... ... ...... . . ...
6
Threading
the Bobbin Case ...... . ...... . . ... 7
Using the Control
Top Tension Control

...... ....... . . . .8,
8,9
Bobbin Tension Adjusting . ..... ... ..... . ... 10
Checking

Tensions

...... . . .... ... .... .... . 11
Stitch Length Control .... . . .... . . ..... .12, 12,13
Stitch Width
Control .... . . ...... ..... .12,
12,13
Reverse Stitch Control .... . . ...... ......
14, 14,15
Special
Stitch Variegator
. . . ....
. . ...... 14, 14,15
Special Stitch Dial . . . .... . . ...... . ...... . . ... 16
Pressure Regulator .... . . ...... . ...... . . . . .17
Feed Dog Control . . . .... . . ...... . . ..... . . . . .18
Sewing Light ... .... . . .... . . .... ... .... ... .... 18
Multi Purpose Needle Plate . . . ..... . . ....
.19
Seam Guide . ..... . ..... . ...... . . ..... . . .... .19
Accessories
Needles . . ... .... . . .... . . .... ... .... . . ...... . . .20
Needle,Thread,

Fabric Chart . . .... . . .... . . . 21
Presser

Feet

... ... ..... . . .... ... .... . . .... . . . 22
Buttonhole

Attachment . ..... . . ...... . ..... . 23
Design cams ... ...... . . .... ... .... . . . . .... . . .24
Section II Starting to Sew . . . ..... . . ..... . . ...... . ..... .
1
Garment Construction Stitches
Straight Stitching ... . . .... .... ..... . . .... ... 2
Zig Zag Stitching . ..... ... ... .... .... . . .... . 3
Chain . Stitching . . . . .... . . ..... . . ...... . . .... . 4
Stretch Stitching . .... . . .... ... ...... . ..... .
5
Special Finishing Stitches
Satin Stitching

.

. . .... . .
..... ... ... .
.,
..... 6
Buttonhole Making .... . . ...... . ..... ... ... 7
Blind Hemming ... ... .... . . ..... . . ...... . . ...
8
Zipper Application ... . . .... . . .... ... .... . . ... 9
Mending ... ... ..... . ...... . ..... ... .... . . . . .10
Darning . . .... ... .... .. .....
. ...... ... .... . . . . .10
Button Sewing . ..... . . .... . . .... ... .... ... .
.11
Bar Tacking ... .... . . ...... ...... ...
.... . . . . .11
Special Design Stitches . ..... . . .... ... ...... . . .12
Single Needle Designs .... ... .... ... .... . . .13
Single Needle Basic Designs 14
Reverse Stitch Designs ..... . ..... . . ..... . . .1 5
Reverse Stitch Designs
-Using Special Stitch Variegator . . . . . .16
Using the
DoubleNeedle
. . .... ... .... . . . . .17
Section
Section IV Caring for the Machine
Checking Performance Problems . . . ..... . 1
Hints on Sewing on Different Fabrics ... 2
Cleaning Feed Dogs and Shuttle . . . . .... . 1
Oiling
Under
Arm
Cover
Plate
..... . . .... . 2
Oiling
Underside
. . ...... . ...... . . .....
3
Oiling in Face Cover Plate . . ... ..... . ...... .
3
Parts List . . . . .... ... ...... . . .... . . ...... . ... .5, 5,6

21 . Light and Power Switch

28 .
Pressure Regulator
22
.
Thread Spool Pin Base

29 . Presser Foot Lever
23 . Hand Wheel

30 . Presser Foot Lock
24 . Top Cover Plate

31
.
Thread Cutter
25 . Spool Pins

32 . Hinge Hole
26 . Design Cam Cover

33 . Feed Dogs
27 . Bobbin Winder Tension Disc

INSTALLING
MACHINE
1 . Loosen the two
hinge
screws under
holes in the rear edge of the ma-
chine bed .
5 . Plug machine cord into any 110-
120 volt wall outlet . Turn on power
by
pushing light and power switch .
2 . Raise hinge pins in the cabinet
cutout . Slip machine head onto
pins .
3 . Tighten hinge screws securely
.
4 . Push the plug onto three-prong
connector under the bed plate .
Lower machine head to front
cabinet flap .
6 . Spool
pins are packed in accessory
box . Screw thread spool pins in
place . Position nylon discs as
shown in illustration . Wipe ma-
chine
of
excess oil used in shipping .

Fig .
1
Fig . 2
Place thread on spool pin
as shown
with thread coming from back of the
spool . Draw thread through
the top
threading tube . Holding the spool
stationary with right
hand, pull the end
of the thread between the tension discs
as shown . Pull the spring wire loop
up
and past the top hook until the thread
can be slipped
into hook (See Fig . 2) .
When the thread is released, the spring
wire loop will return to position
(Fig .
3) with thread in proper place . Release
spool of thread and hook thread into
take up lever as shown (Fig . 4) .
Continue to thread machine exactly as
shown . Needle must always be thread-
ed in direction as shown in Fig . 5 .

1 .
Raise needle
to its highest position
by rotating hand wheel toward you .
2 . Remove hand hole cover plate by
lifting up front .
3 . To remove bobbin case from shut-
tle, pull open latch of bobbin case .
4 . Pull
bobbin case straight out of
shuttle .
5 .

Insert bobbin into bobbin case mak-
ing sure thread
is coming from
bobbin as shown .
6
.
Pull thread
through slot of case
as
shown .
7 . Pull thread under tension spring .
8 . Holding latch open, position case
into shuttle, and release latch . Case
should lock into place when latch
is released .
9 . Hold needle thread loosely in left
hand and rotate hand wheel toward
you one complete turn . Bring bob-
bin thread
up by
pulling
upper
thread .

CONTROLS
TOP TENSION CONTROL
Probably the most important control on your
machine
is
this
one that
regulates
your top thread tension . It consists of discs between which the thread passes .
The pressure on these discs is regulated by turning the dial on
the front
of
the control . The higher the number, the tighter the tension .
There are many reasons for having to reset your
tension . The best tension
for one fabric may not be correct for another . The required tension depends
upon the stiffness of the fabric, thickness of the fabric, numbers of layers
of
fabric being sewn, as well as the type of stitch you are making .
It is
best to test the
stitching
on a scrap of the fabric you are
using
before
starting to make a garment . To adjust for the correct stitch, see next page .

OJUSTING TOP TENSIONS
A perfect straight stitch
will
have
threads locked between the two
layers of fabric
with no loops on
top or bottom .
©

Upper thread
too
tight
Decrease Tension
v
©

Upper thread too loose
Increase
Tension

Bobbin tension requires
adjusting less frequently than the upper thread
tension .
If the stitch is satisfactory but the
seam is puckered, it may be necessary
to
loosen the tension on both the top and bottom threads . Be sure to balance
them as indicated on Page 9 .
When adjusting the tension on the bobbin case, make slight adjustments with
a screwdriver .
Turn Counter Clockwise .
Turn Clockwise .

To check the thread tension balance, be sure
to use mercerized thread of the
same size on the top and on the bobbin ; and a sharp, correctly sized
needle
for the fabric you are sewing . Begin with a full bobbin . Set the
stitch length
for about 12
stitches per
inch .
Fold a 6" square of fabric in half diagonally, forming a triangle
. Make a line of
stitching 1 /2" in from the fold .
a . If seam is puckered - both tensions are
too tight .
b . If the bottom thread lays on the fabric - tighten
upper thread
tension, and repeat test . See Fig .
3, Page 9 .
c .

If the
top thread lays on the fabric - loosen upper
thread tension,
and repeat test . See Fig . 2, Page 9 .
Grasp the stitching
and pull with a snap to make the threads
break .
a . If both threads break - tensions
are balanced .
b . If neither thread breaks - both
tensions are too loose .
c . If upper thread breaks - loosen top tension .
d . If lower
thread breaks - tighten top tension .
Both threads do not have to break
at the same place, but they should break
on the
same snap .
It is necessary to
reduce the upper thread tension somewhat when zigzag
stitching .
The wider the stitch, the less tension that
is needed . This is par-
ticularly important when making designs
. It is not desirable to have any of
bottom thread
visible on the right side of the fabric when making designs
.

The stitch length control
regulates the length of the stitch you
select . THE
HIGHER THE NUMBER - THE SHORTER
THE STITCH . Turn only the outer
rim
of this
control to set the stitch length .
The number on stitch length control indicates stitch number per inch
.
The
stitch setting you use
will
be
determined by the thickness of the fabric
you are sewing .
A longer stitch setting should be used for thicker fabric or more
layers
of
fabric .
The middle range of the control is the 10-12 stitch per inch
range which is
the most commonly used .
A basting stitch is made by using the longest possible
stitch setting - 6 stitches
per inch .
The red marking - on
the control is the setting used for the shortest
stitches
such as in Satin Stitching .
This control regulates
the width of the stitch you select .
THE HIGHER THE
NUMBER -THE WIDER THE
STITCH . Youmay vary your zigzag stitch width
by adjusting this control to the setting you desire .
This control must be on
Red "S" in order to do straight stitching
.
Turn only the outer rim of this control
to set the stitch width .
The center of the control dials the special stitches
the machine is capable
of sewing
.

0-
0-

It is best to begin andend seams with a few stitches taken in reverse .

1 his
is called back tacking . Back tacking fastens the ends of the seams firmly
and prevents raveling .
When reverse stitching is needed, simply lower the lever and hold there during
sewing . The fabric will immediately start
feeding backwardsand the seam
will be fastened .
This control
determines the feed of the feed dogs .
All
simple
forward
stitches
require that this control be set at red dot . These stitches are the straight
stitch, zigzag
mending, blind hem and basic decorative designs .
Those stitches requiring an automatic reverse feed of the feed dogs are the
stretch stitches
and the reverse decorative designs . Then the Stitch Variegator
mustbe set on S, M, or L . See next section for specific settings for individual
stitches .

There are
certain types of stitches that are used more often than others in
your garment construction . Because of their frequent use, you will soon
realize the convenience offered
to you by this control
.
All stitches printed in red on the dial must be sewn with the Special Stitch
Variegator set at the
Red Dot
.
To make the stitches printed in white on this dial, the Special Stitch Variegator
must
be set at S .
The red "S" setting illustrated
is the one used for most of
your
stitching .
At this setting you
may straight stitch, stretch stitch or
make a simple zig zag
stitch .
As each stitch is dependent upon
the settings of your other controls .
Carefully read the
direction in the next section of the book for the
various
stitches .

Section j
Page 16 b
You will find that much of your
sewing is in the mending category . For this
reason you have been
provided with a stitch for the repair of
tears .
It is
accomplished with illustrated setting and
variegator set at red dot . When
the Variegator'is turned
to S, a Smocking Stitch results . For directions see
the next section of
this book .
The setting illustrated
is used for special edge finishing and special
stretch
stitch for sewing elastic such as sportswear, girdles
and other garments that
require stretch . See
next section of this book for detailed use of the stitches
.

The CAM setting on the dial is used whenever you wish to use any of the
20 insert cams to make decorative embroidery patterns .
Blind hems are made by using the setting shown with the Stitch Variegator
on the red dot . When the Variegator is set
on the
White
"S",
overcast stretch
~', ;~~ing is made with a forward and reverse action of the machine .

Page 16d
This
is a
stitch that has been
used
in the garment industry for many years .
It forms a good looking seam as well as overcasts the edges . It is imperative
that this stitch
is
used for seaming of swimwear, stretch ski pants and other
types of knit sportswear . Variegator must be set on the
White
"S" .