I’ve been having issues with skipped stitches when stitching on all kinds of knit fabrics. I looked up tips for avoiding skipped stitches, as well as I believed I was doing whatever right, however nothing I tried helped. I was starting to concern that my vintage stitching machines just weren’t as much as the job, as well as perhaps I needed a contemporary machine? I truly don’t want a contemporary machine, though! I like being able to service my machines myself, as well as understanding my stitching machine can sew with just about anything without breaking.
Well, I lastly figured out what I was doing wrong. Both my needle as well as thread options were triggering skipped stitches.
You understand exactly how everybody states to match your needle size to your fabric? Well, in my case, that doesn’t work for knit fabrics. I have to utilize a size 14/90 sphere point or stretch needle regardless of material thickness, even on the sheerest knits. I do keep in mind reading somewhere that vintage machines were designed to work finest with size 14 needles, so if you have a contemporary machine, other sizes may work OK, too. I can’t test this, since I provided away the only contemporary machine I had!
I tend to utilize serger thread or affordable cone thread for most of my sewing. I do utilize stronger thread on high stress seams, however since I haven’t had any type of issues with my seams failing, I utilize the affordable thread for most things. As I was considering my issue with skipped stitches, I kept in mind exactly how my old serger would stop skipping stitches when I utilized thicker, high high quality thread in the needles. I likewise kept in mind a family member complaining about exactly how her expensive, high end stitching machine only dealt with high high quality thread, even after being serviced.
So I did some testing. These tests were done on my singer 328K, utilizing the needles as well as thread I had on hand. I started with a piece of nylon/spandex techsheen material as well as tried different thread as well as needle combinations. right here are the results:
Row 1: singer size 14/90 ballpoint needle with affordable serger thread.
Row 2: singer size 14/90 ballpoint needle with “spun polyester” thread bought on ebay from seller superiorsurestitch (I definitely won’t be buying more of that!)
Row 3: singer size 14/90 ballpoint needle with coats & Clark double duty XP thread.
Row 4: singer size 14/90 ballpoint needle with Gütermann thread.
Row 5: singer size 14/90 ballpoint needle with Gütermann thread.
Row 6: singer size 14/90 ballpoint needle with coats & Clark double duty XP thread.
Row 7: Schmetz size 14/90 stretch needle with coats & Clark double duty XP thread.
Row 8: Organ size 11/75 ballpoint needle with coats & Clark double duty XP thread.
Row 9: Schmetz size 11/75 stretch needle with coats & Clark double duty XP thread.
Row 10: Schmetz size 14/90 stretch needle with Gütermann thread.
From that sample, I can wrap up that I requirement to utilize a size 14/90 stretch needle on material with spandex in it, as well as I definitely requirement to utilize high high quality thread. coats & Clark thread appears like it did a bit much better than Gütermann, however I’d have to do a larger sample to be sure. I believe perhaps black thread doesn’t work in addition to lighter colors, too.
I made one more sample on thin cotton jersey, this time around utilizing black Gütermann thread as well as only diverse the needle type:
Row 1: singer size 14/90 ballpoint needle
Row 2: Organ size 11/75 ballpoint needle
Row 3: Schmetz size 14/90 stretch needle
Row 4: Schmetz size 11/75 stretch needle
The size 14/90 needles obviously worked the best, even though it was thin fabric. since there is no spandex in this fabric, the ballpoint needles work fine – there is no requirement to utilize the more costly stretch needles.
I chosen out a couple of sheer knit materials to see if the size 14/90 ballpoint needles would still work. I tested 15 denier nylon tricot as well as 40 denier nylon tricot, as well as got no skipped stitches. The relatively big 14/90 needles seemed to work fine on sheer knit fabric, too.
Note: You only requirement to utilize high high quality thread in the needle. You can still utilize up your affordable thread by utilizing it in the bobbin (if it is strong sufficient for whatever you are sewing).
So, when I sew knits, I’ll have to keep in mind to utilize great thread as well as size 14/90 ballpoint needles for most knit fabric, or a size 14/90 stretch needle if I’m getting skipped stitches on spandex fabric. I’m happy I lastly figured this out!
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