My fabric won't feed

The Stylist 7258 does not have adjustable feed dogs. To do free-hand stitching (or darning), you need to put the darning plate over the feed dogs. This plate was included in the original accessories with the machine. You can buy a replacement from many sewing machine supply vendors, including https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/darning-plate-singer-087294.aspx .

The manual for the Singer Stylist 7258 is available on the product page: https://www.singer.com/Stylist-7258-Sewing-Machine . The current link to the manual is https://manuals.singer.com/Manuals/RetrievePDF/851 . See page 8, the accessories list, and page 12, using the darning plate.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

Consult the owner's manual. There should be instructions for how to darn with your machine. It would require either the feature that lowers/raises the feed dogs or a cover plate that attaches over the feed dogs.

If your machine came with the cover plate accessory, and the feed dogs are not rising to feed the fabric, then I suspect the machine has not been cleaned & oiled in quite some time and perhaps the feed dogs have seized. When you run the machine (remove the needle and presser foot), watch if the feed dogs actually drop below the needle plate, move toward the front of the machine, then rise above the needle plate and move toward the back of the machine. This is a repetitive motion that actually pulls the fabric through the machine. If this is not happening with your machine, it needs service.
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Singer Stylist 776 Manual Page 8

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Here's a manual to download for your machine:
http://www.singerco.com/uploads/download/abbd2bd7616f2b26729a1f5800a872ec0dc41c5e.pdf

It appears that your machine does not have a drop feed-dog function. Instead, you would need to buy a special plate that covers the feed dogs. (See page 6)

If the feed dogs are not functioning properly, then consult the maintenance section of the manual for cleaning and oiling. Most likely, the feed dogs need oiling. Be sure to perform regular maintenance on your machine to keep it operating.


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If there is no lever to drop the feed dogs you need a darning plate. It goes on top of the needle plate. Also called a 'feed dog cover'.

I suggest getting out your manual and looking up lower and raising the feed dogs. When the feed dogs are lowered they don't move. You could have lowered them without realising it.

Here is a link to page 22 of the manual. It shows you where to flip the lever to raise the feed dogs. If your feed dogs are not grabbing fabric your feed dogs are lowered.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1050311/Singer-2638.html?page=23#manual

the best idea is to have the machine serviced, that way the feed dogs can be checked to see if there is something wrong with the feed dog switch or the feed dogs them selves

Here's a review for the 834.
http://zigzaggers.typepad.com/zigzaggers/2008/07/singer-stylist-834.html
Although it mentions you cannot raise and lower the feed dogs, you can change the throat plate to cover the feed dogs when you don't want to use them.
I couldn't find any reviews for the 518. I think the higher the number, the newer the machine although I may be wrong about that! I have a Singer Stylist 416.
I would look at how easy and expensive it is to get replacement parts for both machines before making your choice.
This is a good site for Singer Stylist parts. http://www.tandtrepair.com/index.html
Why don't you email the guy who runs it and ask him what his preference would be?
Hope this helps, Hazel

The model 513 Singer has two gears which operate the feeding mechanism. If one of these gears is broken, the machine will run except the feed dogs will not move. This is a very common problem with this model.