Sewing machine making very small stiches

My wife's sewing machine is making vey small stiches on the highest number. We can't get the stiches any longer than maybe 1/8 inch. It's an older Brother machine, a very basic model. I worked for a short time on industrial sewing machines in a blue-jeans manufacturing plant, so I recognize that there's a problem with the feed dogs not taking a full stroke. But I can't identify what might be causing it on this machine. It also doesn't have all the access covers out industrial machines did, and I'm afriad that if I crack open the covers on this thing I might not get all the pieces back in!

Any words of wisdom?

Ed

Reply to
Ed from AZ
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Ed, have you removed the throat plate and cleaned out the feed dog area? Often that gets overlooked and packed with lint which keeps the feed dogs from operating as they should. BTW, whereabouts in Arizona are you? IF you are anywhere close I would be glad to stop by and check it out, or give you a recommendation on where to get it serviced.

Pati, > My wife's sewing machine is making vey small stiches on the highest

Reply to
Pati C.

Have you checked the pressure adjustment for the presser foot? If it's too light the feed dogs can't grip the fabric to move it along.

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Ed

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Hi, Pati. I'm in Yuma. Just had the throat plate off the other day to oil - didn't see anything unusual.

Ed

Reply to
Ed from AZ

And wouldn't it be a problem the other way too? If the pressure adjustment is too heavy, maybe the feed dogs simply can not send fabric by any better. And Ed, just because you had the throat plate off recently doesn't mean you might not have missed something. Get a serious light in the area and see if there's a glob of fuzzy gumming up the works. Polly

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote> Have you checked the pressure adjustment for the presser foot? If it's too

Reply to
Polly Esther

My machine has an adjustment button for width and length of stitches - as well as another button for stitching on stretch fabric - does your machine just have one button? Would you be overlooking another button by any chance? My machine isn't anything fancy - just a Kenmore - but it does all I want it to do for now anyway. :-))

Sharon (N.B.)

Reply to
Sharon

Make sure (1) the feed dogs are in the up position (on some machines these can be lowered) and (2) there is enough pressure on the presser foot -- The pressure adjustment sets that amount of pressure that the presser foot will exert on the fabric and if it's set to very light it won't provide any force against which the feed can do it's job.

-Irene

Reply to
IMS

Ed: Check the face plate. Is it seated properly? Once I had similar short stitching issues and realized that I hadn't reinstalled the face plate the correct way.

Hope this helps. Welcome to the Land of RCTQ. We have fun here, no moderator, no rules. The only thing you really need to know is that it is very wise to have your chocolate vetted. Just send a pound or two to the Office of the Official Chocolate Taster of RCTQ, which is in my Palace here in Virginia. I will test and taste and report back via email. You don't have to thank me ... this is my unselfish volunteer duty in RCTQ. A tough job, but someone's gotta do it. :)

Pat, Official Chocolate Taster of RCTQ

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Hi, All.

The feed dogs seem to travel a full distance up and back, with back and forth variable depending on where I set the stitch length knob. There is no other stitch knob except for width (zig zag). The presser foot has no external user adjustment, but it's got plenty of pressure!

It may be time for a full-body tune-up on this thing. *sigh*

Thanks to all who chimed in. Ed

Reply to
Ed from AZ

I went round and round with that one....

until I replaced the bobbin thread, and checked the 'adjustment' on the bobbin case.

Seems somehow 'something' was wrong. I tossed a couple of the oldest bobbins (in case the bobbins themselves were at fault) re-wound fresh thread on a 'manufacturers brand' bobbin (not a generic from a sewing store) and, finally, looked at the bobbin case as I inserted the bobbin. Who knew that there was an adjustment on the case?

I googled and found a link with pictures (it is for an embroidery machine, but the pics at the bottom are generic enough to get you started). There's even a test you can do to see if that is the problem, before you mess with the screwdriver.

Reply to
L

Bah! How did I forget to include the link???

formatting link

Reply to
L

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