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How to Troubleshoot Your Sewing Machine

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The sewing systems are machines which can malfunction right in the middle of a project that you are doing. This has nothing to do with the quality or the manufacturer of the product as all types of machines could show some wear and tear with time.

The thing that matters here is that how can you troubleshoot your machine without any hassle. There are a number of situations which can exist and can cause trouble in your ongoing project. In this guide, we will have a look at the three most common problems and its troubleshooting which is common to all the modern machines that you use today.

How to Troubleshoot Your Sewing Machine
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The Bunching of Thread Under the Fabric:

This is the most common problem that the beginners face, which is directly related to the machine. A lot of people have false opinions and check a lot of different things such as the bobbin and other similar issues which actually is not the problem. If this thing happens then the first thing that you can do is to lift the presser foot and then re-thread the system.

The problem actually is with the machine tension and that needs to be corrected. In the second step, you are required to lift the lever along with the needle to the top position. This will assure the right and appropriate thread tension of the machine. When you are done with that you can check the issue again by taking a few stitches again. In case you got it right it its fixed you can continue to stitch, if not you should be checking it again or else look for other issues like fabric or thread thickness etc.

Uneven or Skipped Stitching:

This is another major issue which is a norm to happen, but at the same time, it is easy to troubleshoot as well. The main reason in this trouble can be a broken, partially damaged or a fully damaged needle. According to the experts, the beginners are advised to replace the needle after every 16 hours of use even if the needle is working properly. Another reason with this issue can be related to the handling of the fabric while stitching.

There is a tendency in a lot of people to pull the fabric which actually works against the feed dogs and the stitches in such situations are skipped. The suggestion here is to improve your hand control when handling fabric in the machine and don’t force it at all.

Keeping the cloth in an easy way without too much stretch or strain on it can help you avoid this situation. Just try to keep pace with the speed of the machine and don’t push or pull the cloth too much.

The Regular Needle Breaking:

This is again a very common problem which even the professionals also face, but know how to troubleshoot such issues quickly. If this thing happens then you have to ask yourself a question, am I using the appropriate needle? The number and size of the needle compatible to the machine can make a huge difference. Therefore, check if you are using the right size needle or not. For your information, the needles are available in sizes from number 8 to 18. The lower number pins are for delicate fabrics such as silk or chiffon and the high number pins are for quilting and multi layer fabric stitching.

Always make sure you have chosen the right needle for your stitching venture as getting a wrong one like a thick needle for a light cloth or a thin needle for a a quilt or thick fabric would lead you to get into the broken needle trouble frequently.

A Word of Advice:

Here we have discussed some general issues to help beginners troubleshoot their machine in case got in trouble. But there can be other technical issues that people may encounter while working on a sewing machine.

All the machines come with a user manual. The users are advised to refer the user manual in case of a problem to find a product specific troubleshooting approach for a particular problem. This will surely make things a lot easier for the beginners to troubleshoot the machine.

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