Machine hates batting!

[Kenz]

I sewed a piece of polyester batting to two layers of cotton fabric. My machine did not cooperate. The stitches are tiny, and I had to force the material through. This is not a quilt. It was another project. Does anyone have any advice? I'm guessing my machine is just not powerful enough to sew several layers of fabric and batting. But, I wanted to make sure there wasn't some trick to make it work.

[KarenC]

Re: Machine hates batting!

Are you using a walking foot? It sounds like your batting may be too thick to push through with your regular foot. I'm no expert on this, so hopefully someone else will reply also.

[midnightline]

Re: Machine hates batting!

A walking foot should help. Or drop the feed dogs and free-motion it. You don't mention the loft of the batting... is it high, mid, or low loft polyester? Also did you baste the project prior to sewing?

[iluvbaking]

Re: Machine hates batting!

If you don't have a walking foot, you might try increasing stitch length.

[Sharyn J]

Re: Machine hates batting!

Walking foot, longer stitch length and loosen the tension on the presser foot. You should have a knob or something to release some of the tension. If the foot has too much tension, you'll get the drag and tiny stitches. When you loosen the tension, your fabric should glide nicely. What machine are you using?

[Kenz]

Re: Machine hates batting!

I think I used high loft batting, which was too much. My machine is a cheapo Singer from WalMart. It's my back up, since my nice, regular machine is getting serviced. I think the only foot I have is the standard one it comes with. No walking foot. And it wasn't basted. I pretty kmuch juts crammed it through, hoping it'd come out nice. Uh, not so much. The stitching is hideous.

[PrettyCurious]

Re: Machine hates batting!

I've used high loft batting [#4 up to 3/4"] and my machine sewed through it nicely. I used a walking foot and a 2.5 stitch length. It was also pin basted. Your machine may do it, but it sounds like you'll have to experiment with some scrap material, and same type of batting to get all your settings right. When you find what works, write it down for next time.

[sleepydiver]

Re: Machine hates batting!

I second what the others said, extra emphasis on the lengthening the stitch length., it will make a huge difference.

[Heather1967]

Re: Machine hates batting!

Check under your feed dogs. Sometimes lint and dust accumulates there so the feed dogs don't work like they should. I had a machine (Janome) that I took in to be serviced and that was my biggest complaint, got it back, and it was still acting up. I took it back again and he said it was because of all the crap accumulated under the feed dogs. Would have thought they'd clean that during a servicing.

It's worth checking though. My Janome had a hard time with thicker things anyway and I had to pull the fabric from the back to get it to feed through. That was even after the area under the feed dogs was cleaned out.

[stitchwishes]

Re: Machine hates batting!

Could be because you didn't baste it. You say it's a cheapo Singer, but all the big box store machines are very decent these days. Unless it's a $60 machine I'd think it could handle quilting easily.

It's always worthwhile to take a breather and step back, let any frustration subside. Then tackle possible issues one by one. Poly batting can sometimes be slippery, and if not basted it's not going to all get fed through together. Maybe it's too thick and needs a walking foot to pull the top along, they can be had for $10 on Amazon, generic is just fine. Lots of great suggestions from others here to check.