There are various parts of the sewing machine and knowing each one of these will help you in understanding the various instructions that you are likely to come across in the various magazines and videos that you look at.

The bobbin case is the part of the machine that holds bobbin. The feed is the metal teeth that you can see above the needle plate. This is the part that is responsible for moving the fabric forward as you stitch. The hand wheel is the located on one side of the machine. The wheel almost always has a handle that can be used to move it in a rotatory manner so that the fabric can be stitched. The needle bar or the needle clamp is the part that holds the needle in place and the needle plate is the flat surface into which the needle goes through when you make a stitch. This is sometimes called the throat plate and it can be changed to make different stitches.

The presser foot is the part that can be found below the needle. It is used to hold the fabric down when it is being stitched for form stitches that are even and neat. The slide plate is the cover that allows access to the bobbin and the spool holder is a simple spindle that holds the spool of yarn. The stitch length regulator helps you to adjust the length of the stitch as you sew different objects and there is also a stitch width regulator too. The take up lever helps you to control the flow of the thread. It is the part that you can see going up and down as the stitching progresses.