Turning Corners

Have you ever turned a corner, hoping for a nice sharp turn,

but the machine misses a stitch on the turn so the corner is chopped off?

This is what was happening on my last but one project when I was doing a bit of quilting with the Singer 15K hand machine.  I knew there had to be a way of avoiding it, and I have finally worked out how...

When the needle goes into the fabric, before lifting the foot and turning the work, make sure that the needle is still on the way down.  Then once the work is turned and the foot is back down, let the needle complete its downward journey and form the stitch.  So far as I can fathom it out, if the needle is so far down that it is already in the process of forming the stitch when the work is turned, the threads can slip out of place underneath the bobbin plate and the stitch fail.

I won't tell you how long it has taken me to solve that problem.  Too embarrassing.

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Tuesday's Top Tip - Preventing Snags on the Singer 15K

This is what I kept getting at the beginning of a line of stitching on the Singer 15K - this is the underneath of the work.  The black is the bobbin thread and the white the top thread.  I was getting these annoying snags when using the treadle and thought it was me doing sloppy footwork.  Then I found I got the same problem with the 15K hand machine that I have just cleaned up.  It must be to do with how the stitch is formed with the central bobbin mechanism.

The top thread forms a loop on the back of the work.  Sometimes it doesn't get caught in the stitches, so you can just pull it tight afterwards, but usually it ends up in a bit of a tangle as in the top picture.

The way to prevent this happening is to hold the end of the top thread when beginning a line of stitching.  This holds the thread firm so it doesn't get pulled underneath to form a loop.  Once two or three stitches have been done you can let go of the thread.

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Stitch Formation in a Long Bobbin Machine

This is a Singer 28K.  I have removed the front and back slide plates and put a narrow strip of material under the foot to take the stitches.  The top thread is pink and the bobbin thread green.

When the needle goes down under the needle plate it forms a loop just at the very moment the shuttle is moving forward in the shuttle carriage.  The point of the shuttle is aimed straight through the loop.

Then the whole shuttle passes through the loop.

The top thread glides under the shuttle.

Once the shuttle has passed through the loop, the needle takes the top thread back up again, the loop is tightened, and the bobbin thread is held firmly in place on the underneath of the material.

It was years before I understood what was going on underneath with the shuttle.  I read a description online, complete with diagrams, but still couldn't fathom it out, until one day I was trying to sort out a problem with a transverse shuttle machine and was looking from underneath and I actually saw it happen.  Truly a moment of revelation. 

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Adjusting the Pressure on the Presser Foot

The pressure on the presser foot can be adjusted if necessary by turning the screw at the top.  If the material is not feeding through the machine when you are sewing it will give a faulty stitch.  For instance, if there is not enough pressure you will find skipped stitches immediately after you sew over seams or folds.  If there is too much pressure there will be crowded together stitches before going over seams or folds.  The pressure is easily adjusted with a few turns of the thumb screw at the top of the presser bar.

Not all thumb screws look the same.  This is the screw on my Serata treadle.  Try not to look too closely at the dust.

The Stitch Length Regulator

On older machines the stitch length is regulated by turning the large screw on the pillar of the machine.  For the longest possible stitch, turn the screw all the way in, as shown above...

... and for a smaller stitch, turn the screw out.  Test the stitch length before you thread the machine by stitching on a piece of paper.  You will see how far apart the perforations are and can set the stitch length without using up material and thread.

How to Adjust the Tension on a Long Bobbin Machine

If a machine has been well looked after, the tension should only ever need adjusting on the top thread.  However, when buying an old machine you never know what tinkering has gone on in the past, and there might be a problem with the bobbin tension.  Adjusting the tension is very difficult to explain without showing the shuttle dangle trick, which I show on this video.

Once you are used to adjusting the tension discs, then regulating the tension on the top thread is a very simple job.  I have been able to remove tension discs for cleaning, replace them and have them set for the correct tension first time, with no further adjustment required and perfect tension when doing the first test stitching.   

However my most beautiful machine (a Vesta transverse Shuttle) was a complete primadonna and it took me four evenings working to past midnight to get it right.  That's when I found out about the shuttle dangle trick.  I hope I have saved people time and headaches by passing on this nugget of sewing machine knowledge.