Can Anyone help, I am having trouble with sewing a zipper with a machine?

December 16th, 2009 | by admin |

I have a 1950’s singer featherweight, and though it’s a nice machine, i’m ready to throw it out the window out of frustration. Everything has been ok up until I tried to sew the zipper on the skirt I made. The needle kept getting stuck, and sounded too blunt, to I changed it to a sharper, thinner needle. I put it in and made sure it was tight and secure and proceeded to sew. But, only I couldn’t sew. The needle would bob up and down, but no stitches would form. The thread then flew out from the needle a few times, so I checked the threading and the tension….everything looked fine……I am stumped, and because I am very new at this, I spent two hours last night trying to figure out what was wrong. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?
I did change to the zipper foot. I tried sewing without the zipper, and nothing happened. The same thing happened to me before, and it turned out the threading was wrong and I fixed it…but the funny thing is that I had not touched the thread at all. It was sewing fine, then suddenly the stiches would not form and I had to re-thread. Could it be that the threading is comming undone by itself?

My guess is that you’re bending the needle while you’re sewing… possibly by hauling fabric around under the presser foot (bad idea! if you were my student, you’d have to sew paper using just your forefingers to steer with till you convinced yourself that you only need to guide, not haul…)

Switching to a smaller needle increased the problem… now it’s got a thinner shaft going through a thicker bunch of fabric, and it’s bending. If anything, I’d go up a size.

But most sewing machine problems that can be fixed by a user are covered here:
These are the likely culprits:
–Bad needle
–Dirty
–Misthreaded
–Seams started incorrectly

The 10 minute fix for most of what ails most sewing machines:
– Dig out the manual. Take all the thread out of/off of the
machine. Pull the needleplate and the bobbin case if it’s
removeable. Clean and oil per the manual’s recommendation. Use a
brush and vacuum, not compressed air (which blows lint in
farther), and real sewing machine oil, not 3-in-1 type oil (it
hardens and freezes the machine) nor WD-40 type stuff (it’s a
solvent, not a lubricant).

– Put in a new needle of the correct point style for the fabric
you’re sewing (ballpoint for knits, sharps for wovens) and the
right size for the thickness of fabric (10/70 for shirting weight
fabrics, 12/80 for heavy shirtings or light pantsweight. 14/90
for medium to heavy pantsweight, 16/100 for very heavy fabrics.
Make sure the needle is in right way around — a needle in
backwards will skip stitches or not stitch at all.

– Rethread, with manual in hand. Make sure the presser foot is
UP when you thread the top — it opens the top tension so that
the thread actually gets in between the tension disk (loops on
the bottom, not enough tension on top).

– Fetch up the bobbin thread. You need about a 4" tail of thread
top and bottom. Run both threads under the presser foot and
behind it.

– If you’ve been playing with the top tension, set it to 4. If
you’ve been playing with the bobbin tension, let me know and
we’ll try to rebalance it, but you’re likely to have to take it
into the shop.

Now, each and every time you start to sew a seam, this is how you
do it:
1) Place the fabric under the needle, and use the handwheel to
lower the needle into the fabric (be sure to turn it the right
way… seee the manual).

2) Drop the presser foot.

3) Hold the thread tails behind the presser foot with your left
hand.

4) Take a couple of stitches

5) Drop the thread tails and sew normally.

If this doesn’t fix your problems, you may have some thread
caught farther in the machine than you can spot… doesn’t take
much for some machines to start pitching a fit. Or you may have
accidentally knocked the machine out of time with one of the
jams. Bad timing is actually a fairly rare event, often preceeded
by broken needles and loud noises, but a good solid jam is
another way to throw off the timing. You can check here to see if
you think timing is the problem:
http://sewusa.com/Sewing_Machine_Repair/…
but that’s generally something that a repair shop needs to
adjust.

  1. 6 Responses to “Can Anyone help, I am having trouble with sewing a zipper with a machine?”

  2. By Victoria M on Dec 16, 2009 | Reply

    I have a newer sewing machine and it requires you to use a special presser foot to sew zippers, have you changed this out yet?
    References :

  3. By RJ on Dec 16, 2009 | Reply

    You have to have a zipper boot…that’s what my mother used to call it, not sure if that’s the real name or not.
    References :

  4. By B Anne on Dec 16, 2009 | Reply

    It sure sounds like the needle is the problem, since it was at least sewing before you changed it. So it is in backwards or is the wrong needle for the machine or the threading is wrong somehow. The thread isn’t wrapped around the spool spindle is it? Try it on just a folded piece of fabric without the zipper. There are a lot of needle options out there for different fabrics and uses – and for different machines. Sometimes it is hard to find the right one. Same for bobbins.

    Just a guess. Those old SIngers are good machines. I have one I haven’t used in years. Good luck.
    References :

  5. By Kathleen on Dec 16, 2009 | Reply

    Born in 1958, and still have my Mom ( and her Mothers before that, 1910 version) Singer with a knee peddle. You have the put the zipper FOOT on as they are called. Some models require you change out the needle plate to a heavier gage one? Depends on year version machine you have- Anyway, once zipper foot on properly, double check bobbin tension and bobbin before sewing zipper in
    Hope this helps, good luck!

    P.S. Find it refreshing – a young lady who has interest in sewing,and can!
    References :

  6. By Kay on Dec 16, 2009 | Reply

    Yes,what Kathleen said & maybe if you go on this site……. http://www.singer-featherweight.com/servicemanpix-pages/Serviceman-1.html

    It’s the Singer Featherweight manual….it might have the infor. you’re looking for. I only looked briefly but it seems to have illustrations as well, hope it will be what you need.
    References :

  7. By kay on Dec 16, 2009 | Reply

    My guess is that you’re bending the needle while you’re sewing… possibly by hauling fabric around under the presser foot (bad idea! if you were my student, you’d have to sew paper using just your forefingers to steer with till you convinced yourself that you only need to guide, not haul…)

    Switching to a smaller needle increased the problem… now it’s got a thinner shaft going through a thicker bunch of fabric, and it’s bending. If anything, I’d go up a size.

    But most sewing machine problems that can be fixed by a user are covered here:
    These are the likely culprits:
    –Bad needle
    –Dirty
    –Misthreaded
    –Seams started incorrectly

    The 10 minute fix for most of what ails most sewing machines:
    – Dig out the manual. Take all the thread out of/off of the
    machine. Pull the needleplate and the bobbin case if it’s
    removeable. Clean and oil per the manual’s recommendation. Use a
    brush and vacuum, not compressed air (which blows lint in
    farther), and real sewing machine oil, not 3-in-1 type oil (it
    hardens and freezes the machine) nor WD-40 type stuff (it’s a
    solvent, not a lubricant).

    – Put in a new needle of the correct point style for the fabric
    you’re sewing (ballpoint for knits, sharps for wovens) and the
    right size for the thickness of fabric (10/70 for shirting weight
    fabrics, 12/80 for heavy shirtings or light pantsweight. 14/90
    for medium to heavy pantsweight, 16/100 for very heavy fabrics.
    Make sure the needle is in right way around — a needle in
    backwards will skip stitches or not stitch at all.

    – Rethread, with manual in hand. Make sure the presser foot is
    UP when you thread the top — it opens the top tension so that
    the thread actually gets in between the tension disk (loops on
    the bottom, not enough tension on top).

    – Fetch up the bobbin thread. You need about a 4" tail of thread
    top and bottom. Run both threads under the presser foot and
    behind it.

    – If you’ve been playing with the top tension, set it to 4. If
    you’ve been playing with the bobbin tension, let me know and
    we’ll try to rebalance it, but you’re likely to have to take it
    into the shop.

    Now, each and every time you start to sew a seam, this is how you
    do it:
    1) Place the fabric under the needle, and use the handwheel to
    lower the needle into the fabric (be sure to turn it the right
    way… seee the manual).

    2) Drop the presser foot.

    3) Hold the thread tails behind the presser foot with your left
    hand.

    4) Take a couple of stitches

    5) Drop the thread tails and sew normally.

    If this doesn’t fix your problems, you may have some thread
    caught farther in the machine than you can spot… doesn’t take
    much for some machines to start pitching a fit. Or you may have
    accidentally knocked the machine out of time with one of the
    jams. Bad timing is actually a fairly rare event, often preceeded
    by broken needles and loud noises, but a good solid jam is
    another way to throw off the timing. You can check here to see if
    you think timing is the problem:
    http://sewusa.com/Sewing_Machine_Repair/...
    but that’s generally something that a repair shop needs to
    adjust.
    References :
    50 years of sewing

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