Is using the break statement bad practice?

How easy is it to break a sewing machine by using the wrong setting for the thread or something to that extent?

• My grandma is going to let me use her sewing machine, but I have no idea what the heck I am doing, and this machine is from 1959 and is valued at $2000! She keeps asking when I'm going to try it out, to practice on it, but without knowing what I'm doing, I don't want to break it! It's a Pfaff 260, and I can't find anything more than how to thread it online--But it's already threaded.

• Answer:

  The way you break a sewing machine, short of drop kicking it down the stairs, is to not clean it, not oil it if oiling is required (vintage machines like this one do need oiling -- and with sewing machine oil, not olive oil, 3 in 1, WD-40 or similar products), trying to force the needle through fabrics so thick you have to handwalk the needle, running too heavy a thread through the upper tension (stick with standard dressmaker's threads and you'll be fine), and getting a bad snarl going and then forcing the machine. Here's the threading diagram for the machine: http://www.sewusa.com/Threading_Diagrams/Threading_Pages/Pfaff_Sewing_Machine_Threading/Pfaff_332_260_threading_Diagram.htm Ask your grandma for basic lessons, or take some locally. If she doesn't still have the manual, buy one... they're easily available on the secondary market for $5-20 -- and a newbie without a teacher needs one. Some helps: http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/22521551 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090909185148AAxsd5m http://sewusa.com/Sewing_Machine_Repair/Sewing%20Machine%20Troubleshooting.htm http://sewusa.com/Sewing_Machine_Repair/Sewing%20Machine%20Stitch%20formation.htm Blue book on it, iirc, is about $150.