Stitching question

[Joy]

I have a question about when you are sewing two squares or two strips together. When I watch the girls here starting to sew, they just line up the two pieces and start sewing right down the piece.
When I start to sew, my fabric will bunch up and I have to poke the fabric along until I can get a hold
on the strip or piece I am sewing. You all just never seem to have that problem. Could it be my
sewing machne or what??? And, another thing. When the girls start sewing they never back stitch
at the beginning or anchor the first couple stitches. My machine has a setting that will set the beginning stitches. Doesn't this cause the seam to start pulling out at the very beginning. I hope I have made myself clear and haven't been to confusing. Thanks so much for any help.

[sally]

Re: Stitching question

Joy I think it is your machine. Are the feeder feet raised and working. They push the material along. I never backstitch because when you join a block for instance you will sew over previous sewing which locks it. Plus it makes it easier to undo your work when things don't line up. Which happens to me a lot...
Not the best explaination hopefully some of the more experienced sewers can explain better.

[Dragonfly]

Re: Stitching question

There could be a number of issues here starting with your feed dogs working as they should as Sally has said. It is probably easier to suggest solutions rather than causes though, so here goes. If you are only doing straight stitch and your machine has a small hole throat plate, use it, the plates with the larger holes are designed for zigzag and decorative stitches and are often fitted standard but they make the machine more prone to pushing fabric into the bobbin area or making it harder to get started as there is nothing supporting the underside of the fabric. **Make sure you change it back for zigzag though. If this is not an option then use a peice of leader fabric to sew from onto the pieces...with just a couple stitches between or simply hold your thread at the back of the machine taught, not so tight that you are pulling the fabric, just taught so it helps the fabric feed into the machine without bunching up under the needle.

I agree with Sally about locking the stitches, when piecing it is not such a problem since you do cross over it. There are a couple places I backstitch, mostly when I am 'on' the fabric rather than at an edge, such as when you stop and start a 1/4" in from the end for things like mitred border corners, or when quilting and not starting at an edge.

[Joy]

Re: Stitching question

Thanks so much. I feel sooooooooo dumb !!! My machine is badly in need of a professional over
haul and I am putting it off until I finish up a few things. I happened to think about the feed dog and when I took off the pressure foot and tried to just wipe the feed dog off, I could see that it was packed
with lint. I took a big pin and cleaned it all off and what a difference it made. I try to clean out the
lint most of the time before I start to sew, but never even thought about the feed dog. That was
the problem. I cannot believe how much that helped. Hopefully, in the next couple weeks, I will get
my machine to a repair shop. Thanks again.

[KarenB]

Re: Stitching question

I always keep scrap pieces of fabric next to my sewing machine and whe I am finishing a seam I just sew a few stitches onto my scrap piece and then it is there for a leader on the next seam. It saves thread and makes starting much easier. I hope you "assembly line" sew as much as possible too. Do all the seams you can one right after another before stopping.

Happy Quilting!