=How do you regulate the machine?= Jane asked Miss James about the screws. There are usually two large ones on the double-thread machines which are important. One screw is to make the stitch larger or smaller; we say, to regulate it. Miss James showed the girls how to do this. The second screw is to regulate the tightness of the thread. It is called a tension. Press your thumb and first finger tightly together and pass a thread between them. When you do not press very hard, the thread passes easily. When you press hard, it is difficult to draw the thread through, and the thread may break. Have you tried? The tension is regulated by a screw which presses two little plates together. The thread passes between the plates. When they are loose like your fingers, the thread passes easily; when tight, it breaks. So, in threading a machine, we must learn where the tension plates are, in order to pass the thread between them, and how the screw is turned to make the plates tight or loose. Your teacher will show you how to turn the screws. To-day, while some girls are finishing the basting, others may try to run the machine, in turn. This is what you are to do: 1. Find all the parts whose names have been put on the blackboard, above table and below table. 2. Learn to treadle evenly. 3. Learn to raise and lower the presser foot on a piece of brown paper, and to stitch without thread. Keep the rows of pricks very even. EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 1. Study your machine. Find all the parts above the table; below the table. 2. What is the purpose of a tension? Show how it operates. 3. Learn to stitch, without a thread, even rows of pricks on brown paper. 4. See how much you can tell mother about the machine, when you go home. LESSON 7 PRACTICE IN THREADING AND RUNNING THE MACHINE Let us learn to thread the double thread machine and practice stitching. This requires much care, but is not difficult. The Pleasant Valley girls enjoyed this lesson very much. As we learned, there are many different makes of sewing machines. All are based on the principles of the one invented by Mr. Howe. If we know the important points to remember in threading a machine, it will be very easy to follow the book of directions which comes with the machine. The names of some machines are the New Home, Domestic, Singer, Wilcox and Gibbs. =Here are the things to think about in threading=: 1. Find the spool holder, and put the spool on it. 2. Find all the little eyes and holes through which the thread must pass. The book of directions will help. 3. Find the tension. Be sure the thread passes between the tension plates and pulls evenly. 4. Find the needle, and thread it from left to right, towards the wheel. 5. Find the shuttle. Look at your book of directions.