Thread: Before the sewing machine is thrown out the window... please HELP!

I have spent the past few hours reminding myself why I think hand sewing is superior to dealing with that contraption known as a sewing machine which DOES NOT make things easier or faster.

I finally figured out how to set it up, but when I try sewing the skirt I'm working on, the thread bunches under the fabric and it inevitably jams. I'm working with a stretch velvet (not panne) and I have just a standard needle on the machine, it's new, and standard thread I picked up when I bought the fabric at the store.

According to the Singer site:

"Birdnesting" occurs when there is no tension on the needle thread to pull the bobbin thread. This is easily corrected by rethreading the machine, following the threading path carefully and making sure the thread is fully engaged in the tension mechanism.

I set the tension 1 level up from normal (at 5 instead of 4) and tried a few different stitches (using zigzag since it's a stretch) to see if that would fix anything, but it's not working and I'm wondering if there's something else I need to be doing?

Make sure your bobbin is the right size and that its thread is configured properly.

This happened to me the other night and I finally realized that I had mis-threaded my machine - and I've been working with this same machine for seventeen years!!!!! I didn't have the thread passing through the tension section. It happens.

Set your tension back to 4 (or what ever is 'normal' for your machine).

Now, I assume you have a bobbin casing (not 'drop in' bobbin)?

If you do, put the bobbin in the casing...put the thread through the tension...now hold the casing with the open (bobbin) side facing you.
Pull thread...the bobbin should be moving CLOCKWISE.
Now to check if it's the right tension, take hold of the bobbing thread, and let the bobbin casing 'dangle', drop your hand downward quickly (like you would a yoyo). The bobbin casing should drop about 5 inches, and you should have felt some tension, if it didn't drop a few inches, the tension is too tight, if it dropped a lot, it's too loose, tighten or loosen the tension screw.

Now, do you have the right needle?

It should be a Ball point, or a Universal point.

If you have the right needle...hold onto the top, and bobbin thread tails when you start to sew...this prevents the thread from being pulled into the feeddogs, and bunching up under the fabric.
You only have to hold on to the tails when you begins sewing, after about 5 stitches, let go, back stitch 3 -5 stitches then sew as normal.
You should do this with the start of ANY & ALL fabrics.
I also 'chain' sew.
Meaning if I have several pieces I need sewn, I line them up in my lap, and sew the first set...back stitch a couple stitches to 'lock' the stitch, put in the next, sew a few stitches, back stitch, etc. then I cut apart the long chain of pieces I stitched together, and continue.

I hope I helped you!!!

Do you have good quality thread? I had this problem when I used cheap thread-really. When I switched to good thread it helped a lot. Also-I realized I had the bobbin threaded incorrectly....

...

Don't forget to make sure the needle is inserted the right way. It has a back and a front.

Yeah, seems to me - with out seeing a picture- that it's not threaded correctly.

Also check to make sure that the thread is coming off the spool in the correct direction. Sounds weird, I know, but I have had issues with that in the past!

{{{HUGS}}}

Thanks for all the tips! I'm going to give it another go this afternoon and I'll check the threading and tension again and tell you all how it goes.

Thank you so much! :)

Miriam, were you able to fix the threading problem?
I just wanted to add that when you're working with stretch fabric you should use the "stretch" labeled needle.
One other thing that might be causing it..is the thread around the bobbin wound tight enough? If its loose that also causes the thread to get jammed.
I know what you're going through though, I've had this problem a few times last week. But hopefully you got the problem worked out.

I recently took a sewing class specifically for "stretch" material. The teacher told us that one of the most important things to remember (and usually overlooked by newbies) when sewing on stretchy fabric is to NOT use 100% cotton thread - it just breaks and bunches up because it has no "give" to it. She advised us to always use polyester thread on stretch material. That might help you - it sure made a difference for me! My class project was a forest green stretch velvet bra/choli that came out gorgeous. I felt empowered when I finished it.

I did figure it out! I wasn't always catching the thread on the tension hook up top and I had something off on the settings. It's all fixed now and here's a pic of the work in progress (pardon the mess). I need to pick up some new elastic for the waistband and hem it:



I did realize that while the pattern is okay and the skirt works just fine, I'm going to modify it and try drawing my own pattern as I had to take this one in quite a bit (read, remove a whole panel) to get the hug I wanted up top and I'd like to see if I can't modify things to make the flair a bit more dramatic

LOVELY! Is this from a "bought" pattern or did you make the original pattern yourself?

I used Simplicity 4401, omit the waistband so I could bring the rise lower (the extra material up top is perfect to make a wide casing for the elastic), and instead of 2 panels up front, I made the front panel twice as wide to avoid a center seam.

GENIUS!

Very nice!

Thank you! :)

I have 2 different fabrics to make 2 more skirts and I hope to make those in the next week or so.