My latest make was a bit of a challenge. I was working with a knit fabric that was not playing well with the sewing machine. After trying different stitches, lengths and needles I gave up thinking that it was time to take the machine in for servicing.
I was able to finish my dress on my back-up machine which sewed the fabric without any of the issues that the other machine had encountered. But today I thought to take a look at the machine that was giving me some trouble. Would you believe that it is working perfectly fine. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that it is sewing beautifully, I just wonder what was up last week.
It is an unsolved mystery as to what was going wrong. Last week I was sewing an interlock knit fabric and today I'm sewing 100% cotton.
Any ideas? I still have some interlock knit in my fabric stash. Any suggestions on the best way to handle this fabric?
Were you using a needle especially for knits? Sometimes I forget to change needles.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought is also needle - I had a dreadful time trying to sew some swimwear lycra with my little travel sized bernette and had tried stretch and ballpoint needles - turned out I needed a heavier stretch needle - I had tried heavy ballpoint needles and a light stretch needle (75) thinking that I didn't want big fat holes being made in my lycra - turned out I needed a 90 stretch needle to really take the thread through the lycra - it then sewed without a problem - this was after a couple of hours of terrible frustration where it wasn't even forming a single stitch at times!
DeleteI did change needles, trying a ball-point and micro-fibre needles but I didn't check the numbers on these. I'm going to have to check that more closely when I try sewing the other simular fabric that I have in my stash.
DeleteI also vote for the needle. But ironically I have found that my newish (but not top-of-the-range) machine doesn't like ballpoint or stretch needles for knits. It sews them better with a regular universal needle and a zigzag. I tried all kinds of variants of stretch stitches and needles before I went back to basics and used what used to always work on my ancient Singer. Different machines have different ways.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the machine might not like that fabric. It is strange, but some fabrics don't get along with some machines. That is one reason I have a back up. My Viking has issues with one particular knit from Joann's. It will skip stitches when I use a double needle. I tried a handful of different needles and it just keeps happening and only with that fabric. I was ready to take the machine in for service, but it worked on a super thin silky fabric right afterwards, It has happened several time, it is just that fabric.
ReplyDelete