machine problems continued

I am sewing 100% cotton, two pieces, right sides together, for a quilt
block. There are no pins invloved because the pieces are small. Stitch
length is 2.5, width is zero, I am doing a straight stitch. I rethreaded
the top and the bobbin, cleaned out all fuzzballs and oiled the needlebar.
Dogs are up and moving as normal, as far as I can tell.. I have tried a
majority of upper tension numbers, all failed me. The tension appears to
have no effect on how the fabric moves and the needle ends up sewing over
and over into the same hole. The machine looks like it is operating
perfectly if I hold the thread tails and just watch the machine go through
the motions. But when I put fabric under the presser foot, even in the
middle of the piece of fabric instead of the edge, the dogs move the fabric
as far as the rear edge of the presser foot, then the fabric gathers there
and puckers, and the dogs push the fabric into an accordian shape, stopping
at the rear edge of the presser foot.

I need a Ben & Jerry's break. I appreciate all advice and hankerchiefs.

Cyndi

QuiltShopHopper wrote:

I am sewing 100% cotton, two pieces, right sides together, for a quilt
block. There are no pins invloved because the pieces are small. Stitch
length is 2.5, width is zero, I am doing a straight stitch. I rethreaded
the top and the bobbin, cleaned out all fuzzballs and oiled the needlebar.
Dogs are up and moving as normal, as far as I can tell.. I have tried a
majority of upper tension numbers, all failed me. The tension appears to
have no effect on how the fabric moves and the needle ends up sewing over
and over into the same hole. The machine looks like it is operating
perfectly if I hold the thread tails and just watch the machine go through
the motions. But when I put fabric under the presser foot, even in the
middle of the piece of fabric instead of the edge, the dogs move the fabric
as far as the rear edge of the presser foot, then the fabric gathers there
and puckers, and the dogs push the fabric into an accordian shape, stopping
at the rear edge of the presser foot.

I need a Ben & Jerry's break. I appreciate all advice and hankerchiefs.

Cyndi

Cyndi, this is just off the top of my head and I'm only posting because our more
experienced people haven't yet, but...

Have you checked the needle pressure adjustment on your machine? It's usually a
knurled wheel situated right at the top of the machine and directly over the
needle/presser foot. It could be that your needle pressure is set on 'zero' and
that would prevent the presser foot and feed dogs from properly feeding the
fabric.

There are a number of other reasons this problem could happen, but this is the
one that springs to my mind. Hope you solve the problem soon - I know how
frustrating it is!

(And spare a thought for us Oz stitchers: we don't even *have* Ben and Jerry's!
=:-0 )

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

machine problems continued

(QuiltShopHopper)
=A0=A0I am sewing 100% cotton, two pieces, right sides together, for a
quilt block. There are no pins invloved because the pieces are small.
Stitch length is 2.5, width is zero, I am doing a straight stitch. I
rethreaded the top and the bobbin, cleaned out all fuzzballs and oiled
the needlebar. Dogs are up and moving as normal, as far as I can tell..
I have tried a majority of upper tension numbers, all failed me. The
tension appears to have no effect on how the fabric moves and the needle
ends up sewing over and over into the same hole. The machine looks like
it is operating perfectly if I hold the thread tails and just watch the
machine go through the motions. But when I put fabric under the presser
foot, even in the middle of the piece of fabric instead of the edge, the
dogs move the fabric as far as the rear edge of the presser foot, then
the fabric gathers there and puckers, and the dogs push the fabric into
an accordian shape, stopping at the rear edge of the presser foot.
I need a Ben & Jerry's break. I appreciate all advice and hankerchiefs.
Cyndi
----
Cyndi, I'm not familiar with your machine, but here are a couple of
basic, cheap possible cures which have solved similar problems with my
machines over time:
Insert a new needle, put a different thread spool onto the machine,
and put a different (or new) bobbin in.
Walk away: leave the project for an hour, a day--just let it sit.
Sometimes that is all it takes for a machine to end it's sulk.
Hope it works for you.
Cea

wrote in message
...

Walk away: leave the project for an hour, a day--just let it sit.
Sometimes that is all it takes for a machine to end it's sulk.
Hope it works for you.
Cea

Oh, if that it would only work for _other_ sulkers! ;-}

--
Beverly
---to reply, delete no spam and .invalid---

QuiltShopHopper wrote:

I am sewing 100% cotton, two pieces, right sides together, for a quilt
block. There are no pins invloved because the pieces are small. Stitch
length is 2.5, width is zero, I am doing a straight stitch. I rethreaded
the top and the bobbin, cleaned out all fuzzballs and oiled the needlebar.
Dogs are up and moving as normal, as far as I can tell.. I have tried a
majority of upper tension numbers, all failed me. The tension appears to
have no effect on how the fabric moves and the needle ends up sewing over
and over into the same hole. The machine looks like it is operating
perfectly if I hold the thread tails and just watch the machine go through
the motions. But when I put fabric under the presser foot, even in the
middle of the piece of fabric instead of the edge, the dogs move the fabric
as far as the rear edge of the presser foot, then the fabric gathers there
and puckers, and the dogs push the fabric into an accordian shape, stopping
at the rear edge of the presser foot.

I need a Ben & Jerry's break. I appreciate all advice and hankerchiefs.

Cyndi



1.Check the presser foot has pressure on it - lower it and see how hard it is to
lift with your hand
2. How high are the feed dogs coming? Take off the stitch plate and check for
fluff between the feed dogs. The feed dogs should come about 1mm above the
stitch plate or the thickness of a dime.
3. If the above fail, run the machine with no thread in it and see if the
problem persists.

Report back!
Roger.
--
Yarn Forward
Your On Line Yarn Store
http://www.yarnforward.com

I took my machine over to a friend's house to see if she could figure it
out, and the machine gave in and worked perfectly all day. The change in
location did the trick. Or maybe the machine thought I was taking it back
to the store.

Cyndi, who thanks all of you so very much for your advice

On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 13:34:57 +1000, Trish Brown
wrote:

(And spare a thought for us Oz stitchers: we don't even *have* Ben and Jerry's!
=:-0 )

But dairy products in general and ice cream in particular is
much nicer in Oz than in the U.S.A.

Joy Beeson
--
http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ -- needlework
http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/ -- Writers' Exchange
joy beeson at earthlink dot net