How To Make A Knitting Machine Needle Retainer Sponge Bar Part 3: Fuse Interfacing, Tape Ends, And Reinstall

sponge bar fuse interfacing to top You are so close to being done.

Now that you have cleaned out the old gunk and glued in the new foam, it is time to attach the interfacing, tape the ends, and reinstall the bar into your knitting machine.

You will need a steam iron, woven fusible interfacing, ruler, pen, fabric scissors, and a small bit of packing tape. A rotary cutter and cutting mat are optional.

What To Buy

Fusible interfacing comes in a variety of fabric blends, thicknesses, and widths. I found woven worked the best. If you have some non woven at home, go ahead and try it out. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

If you need to buy, choose woven. For all the friction generated by the carriage moving the needles back and forth under the sponge bar, a woven variety should hold up better. I used both types of interfacing for this tutorial. Each adhered easily, and seemed to work identically. How it holds up long term is yet to be determined.

For woven, I bought 4 feet (122 cm) of Pellon Stacy Shape-Flex SF101. It is 20″ (50 cm) wide, 70% Polyester 30% cotton, and sold for $3.49 a yard. For non-woven, I got Pellon ShirTailor 950F. It is 22″ (56 cm) wide, 100% polyester, and cost $2.49 a yard.

Where To Buy

JoAnn’s on a 50% off sale. The woven set me back $2.32 for 4 feet (122 cm). The non-woven $1.65. Ridiculously cheap when you consider how many 3/8th inch (1 cm) strips you can get out of 20 inches (50 cm).

How To Finish

sponge bar measure interfacing for cutting Measure a 3/8″ (1 cm) wide strip at least two inches longer than your foam.

To make my life easy, I buy 4 feet (122 cm) which is more than long enough for my lengthiest bulky machine. This gives me a little extra to hang over each end when I fuse it to the foam.

sponge bar cut interfacing to size Using fabric scissors or a rotary cutter, cut the interfacing.

sponge bar lay interfacing beyond end of bar Lay the fabric on top of the foam with a bit sticking off each end.

sponge bar use iron to pin interfacing in place Following the directions for your fusible interfacing, turn on your iron to the specified heat and spot tack the material to the foam.

For my woven interfacing, I used the medium steam setting and held the iron in place for two to three seconds. I tacked the fabric every 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm).

sponge bar use damp cloth between iron and interfacing After tacking, lay a moistened pressing cloth on top and iron the interfacing to the foam. My Pellon directions required 10 to 15 seconds per each overlapping section.

You do not have to press down hard. As long as the iron makes solid, gentle contact, you are good. If you remove your pressing cloth and find the interfacing is not stuck, simply go over that section a second time.

sponge bar ink bleed through interfacing If you don’t glue the marked side of the foam to the bottom of the metal tray, this is what happens.

The steam iron causes the ink to bleed through the interfacing.

Not the end of the world. Just a tad ugly.

sponge bar trim excess fusible interfacing After the interfacing is all fused, trim off the excess from each end.

sponge bar lay scotch tape on end Cut off two pieces of strong packing tape, such as Scotch, and secure both ends.

You will want about a 1/2″ (1.3 cm) of the tape on the foam and the other 1/2″ (1.3 cm) on the metal.

sponge bar scotch tape down ends The tape should cling tightly all the way around the bar.

Your knitting machine needle retainer sponge bar is officially done.

To make sure everything is set and dry, I’ll wait 24 hours before installing the refurbished bar in my knitting machine.

sponge bar hold needles down and insert with metal side up When you are confident your glue has dried, it’s time to reinsert the bar into your knitting machine.

Pick either side. While holding down the needles, slide the bar down its channel.

Share Your Thoughts

After making over a dozen sponge bars, I’m thoroughly pleased with how well they work, how inexpensive the materials are, and how easy it is to do, especially after getting over any nervousness of needing to cut foam or interfacing perfectly. Several of my attempts had gouges in the foam from an unsteady cutting hand. It made absolutely no difference in their performance.

If you make a bar, please share your results in the comments below, regardless of how far into the future you find this post. How has your bar held up? Did you use a different product that worked better for your situation? How long did it last? What did you use to clean out the old gunky glue?

Our machines benefit from everyone’s input.

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17 comments

1 Mar (4 comments.) { 07.27.08 at 11:01 am }: Very neat. I’ll try this when I replace sponge bars for my bulky and standard. With the Brother KX 350, there is, unfortunately, not metal strip to adhere the foam to. It’s just a piece of foam with ribbon on both sides. I could do the interfacing on both sides, like yours. It would have been nice if they had made the machine so that a metal strip guides the sponge through. Oh well.
Thanks again!
Mar
2 kathryn { 07.27.08 at 11:32 am }: I think your idea to put interfacing on both sides is an excellent one. Hopefully the KX 350 can also use the 1/2″ (1 cm) foam. Other widths are hard to find and trimming the thicker foam is a pain.

On a side note, since this is your third comment you have received a link back. Thank you so much for taking the time to add to my site. Depending on your blogging platform, it may take a day or so for the link to show up in your user panel.
3 Judi { 07.28.08 at 4:46 am }: Kathryn
that was the BEST idea since sliced bread!!! KUDOS to you!!
I cannot believe that sponge bars have become so expen-
sive, so your solution is fantastic!! (I had also thought
that perhaps a length of felted fabric would work well
instead of the foam - any thoughts on that??)

Judi/Knox, IN
4 Anne { 07.28.08 at 5:35 am }: I have replaced the sponge in several bars using storm door stripping. It works O.K. but your method seems much more practical. Thank you for such a good explination. I also have a KX 350 and I do not think the purchased foam strips last long enough. I will try this next time with only the interfacing. Again Thank You.
Anne
5 kathryn { 07.28.08 at 5:47 am }: Judi,

Your idea on using felt is intriguing.

The only hitch I could see is if the amount of felt needed to maintain the needles at the proper height prevented the bar from sliding in and out of its slot. The foam really squishes down when inserting or removing the bar.

Inside the machine, the sponge bar channel is deeper than its entry point at either side. The foam has room to gently expand.
6 Terri { 07.28.08 at 7:04 am }: Another thoroughly professional teaching job!

Thank you so much for giving of your time to help fellow machine knitters. I just finished stripping my DM8O following your instructions which (like these for the sponge bar) are clear and concise,

Well done!!

A note for KX350 users … when I had one of these machines - I would stitch one end of the new strip, to one of the ends of the old strip (using a couple of big granny stitches). So - when you pull the old one out - the new one followed in its wake and slipped easily into place, without having to take out any needles.

Thanks again - Terri
7 Marian { 08.03.08 at 7:47 am }: Having just paid out a considerable, though I consider perfectly reasonable for what was done, amount of money to have my 950i repaired I was somewhat frustrated to find that my Brother 260 was working less than efficiently, ie dropped stitches, ragged edges, mispatterning etc. I diagnosed that most of the problem was due to the fact that the sponge bars were about as thick as an ice cream wafer and just about as crisp. I was delighted, just by chance, to come across your article on making a replacement sponge bar, so I thought I would have a try, before spending more money than I could really afford just now. Apart from the foam, which was easily obtained from the local market, I had all the other items required and so I set to work and after a couple of hours I had a spanking new bouncy sponge bar. I have installed it into my machine and all appears to be working well at present. Only time will tell just how durable it is but thank you so much for your article. The instructions and diagrams were clear and easy to follow and I shall certainly pass on a copy of them to another knitting friend.
8 kathryn { 08.03.08 at 8:21 am }: Terri and Marian,

I’m so glad you found my tutorials helpful. I try to pick topics that fix a problem I’m having and then share the results through lots of photographs.
9 Andrea { 08.09.08 at 11:06 am }: Thanks for your detailed and useful tutorial. The photos are an excellent accompaniment to the written instructions. I appreciate the time involved in compiling this information.

If only I had had this guide before I purchased a number of sponge bars on eBAY! I still plan to make at least one, so I can compare it to the ready-made sponge bars.

Thanks again for your efforts.
10 elaine uk { 09.09.08 at 1:58 am }: BRILLIANT! thanks a lot x
11 janet tortora(new comment) { 09.15.08 at 5:43 pm }: Well.. I am a new knitting machine user, and I put a purchased sponge bar into my machine upside down, anyone have any clues as to how to get it out of there. I have the metal side down, sponge up, have taken all of the needles off and it’s just plain stuck in there!!!

I hope that someone can help me! It’s a brother palie machine
12 kathryn { 09.18.08 at 2:31 pm }: If no amount of gentle pulling/prying/coaxing/swearing works, your only remaining option is to take apart the machine. It is not hard, but the first time it is a bit scary.

I wish I had an easier answer.
13 Michelle(new comment) { 09.25.08 at 4:29 am }: Thank you thank you thank you. I have been wanting to try machine knitting and today picked up a cheap 2nd hand one in the Op shop for $10 - however after trying to knit and it jamming, I found out about sponge bars, found your site to DIY sponge bars, ran down to the hardware store and within an hour I had a beautiful pratice square made prefect!

Now I can play around with machine knitting and all up it cost me $10 for the machine and $5 for the parts to make the sponge bar
14 Pat(new comment) { 10.04.08 at 9:01 am }: Your tutorial on refurbishing sponge bars is so excellent! I made my first one the other day and installed it yesterday. I was concerned that the 1/2″ foam would be WAY too thick as the old one that came out was flatter than the height of the sides of the bar. But it slid in with some coaxing and works great. We were out of the Goof Off, so hubby said to use lacquer thinner, and it worked perfectly. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain and show (love the pictures!) us how to do this. Awesome!
15 kathryn { 10.07.08 at 8:32 pm }: Pat,

I’m glad to hear that lacquer thinner works too. It is more widely available than the Goof Off.
16 Lanette(new comment) { 11.03.08 at 9:54 am }: OH MY!! I am so happy to have found this site. I have an EXTRA long bed Studio 700 with a sponge bar 58″ from end to end. I was beside myself with what to do. I am going to find the needed supplies and do this and thank you so much for the effort you put in to such great instructions!
Sincerely,
Lanette in MS
17 Jan(new comment) { 11.03.08 at 8:52 pm }: WOW! I’m impressed. Just found your site while looking for Passap information. (Someone gave me an older Passap with no instructions . Using your great info we were able to at least set it up! )

Then I noticed your sponge bar instructions. They are so clear and easy to follow, - and inexpensive. Will definitely try them next time I need one for my Brother machines.

Am looking forward to trying some of your patterns, too.

Thank you! Thank you!