sewing with jersey

A tension of 5 sounds very tight to me, but I'm not familiar with your machine (I have Singer 401As, and I sew most fabrics using a tension of 3-4). Have you tried sewing, with the same thread and tension on *woven* fabric? What does it do?

Have you had your machine serviced...cleaned, oiled, etc.?

Another thought, be sure for knits you are using a ball-point/stretch needle (a new one), or you'll end up with holes in the seams.

If you can't get the needle and bobbin thread to lock correctly when using a looser needle tension (exactly in the middle of the two pieces of fabric) you may need to *loosen* the bobbin tension.

HTH,

Beverly

Have you tried using a tiny zig-zag stitch rather than a straight stitch? It could be you are accidentally stretching the material as you manouver the whole mass through the machine, and bingo - thread breaks.

Is it the top or bobbin thread thats breaking - or both? That could be a valuable clue as to what is going wrong.

HTH

Sarah

Thanks, I played with the tension and that has helped, but it seems that my machine is skipping stitches. The machine was just cleaned, so it's not that.

I'm not sure I have a stretch needle... to be honest i've never heard of that, I'm a newbie can you tell? Next time I'm in a sewing store I'll be sure to check it out.

Thanks for your input.

Use a ball point needle and a small (2.5mm) stitch and a very narrow zigzag setting to allow the seams to stretch.

"Normal" tension is usually set to about 4 on the tension dial.

Try this first:

Unthread the machine completely... spool off the spool pin (it's amazing what a couple wraps of thread around the spool pin under the spool does to tension), and take the bobbin completely out of the bobbin case. Now rethread from scratch, making sure the presser foot is up while you're threading the top. Rethread the bobbin case.

Turn the handwheel and use the upper thread to fetch the lower thread from the bobbin area. Hold the ends of both threads together behind the presser foot, lower it onto scrap fabric, and take a couple of stitches while holding the thread ends. Sew and see if you still get breaking thread. If so, which one breaks? If it's the top thread, turn the tension dial down to 4 and try again. Play with the top tension until you get a nicely balanced stitch.

If it's the bottom thread that's breaking, you'll either need someone who can balance the bobbin tension for you, or check your manual for instructions.

FWIW, you should be using a new ballpoint or "knits" needle with jersey -- my guess is about a size 10, maybe 12.

Kay