Retreat coming up this week. So much to do!

Good morning.  the snow came down last night and blanketed the ground.  It's a pretty sight and not so much snow that I can't get out to do a couple of errands.  That's good.

Of course the big news this week is that FW Club Retreat is only 4 days away.  What a fun time we will have getting even more comfortable with our machines.  I've already made my list of what to pack and thinking about whether my car will hold it all.  Haha!

Mother nature sure has had it in for the ladies doing the FW Case Cover.  We've had to move the date three times due to ice storms or super cold temps.  We're going to try and get it done this Wednesday, Feb 13th.  If you are coming to that class, don't forget to bring those little scraps of outer fabric and lining fabric to cover the ends of the zippers that we put in.  I thought I needed to give you a reminder.

We had a good time at our February Club Class this time.  I've updated what we did over in the Club Class section.  Check it out.

One of the things that a lot of ladies have been asking me about lately is skipped stitches and why this happens sometimes.  So, even though I've talked about that in the past, I'm going to send a reminder again about what can cause such problems and what you can do about them.

The easiest thing to check if you're having these problems is your threading.  Just take the thread off the machine and re-thread the whole thing.  Are you hearing the 'click' when you put the bobbin in?  Did you remember to lift up the presser foot when you threaded the top, especially threading the thread through the tension? 

What kind of thread are you using.  You know I don't recommend you use polyester thread in the FWs.  Polyester tends to leave a film on your needle and when that happens, the thread tends to stick to the needle and that interferes with the hook picking up the thread loop.

What size and type needle are you using?  A thinner needle (smaller needle size) will help a lot when it comes to skipped stitches.  A fat needle tends to drag on the fabric so again, the thread loop is not giving the hook a good loop to catch.  Change your needle as well.  Most of us don't do that often enough.

When you use an iron-on interfacing or wonder-under kind of sticky stuff to glue fabrics together, that sticky stuff can cause thread drag as well.  In fact, that's the most common time I have problems with skipped stitches and not just on my featherweight. Read the directions on the product you use.  If the iron is not hot enough or the time to set the piece you're gluing  is too short, that sticky stuff stays sticky. Again, read the directions.  But, Schmetz is now making a needle that is supposed to glide more smoothly and not allow thread drag. Gail told us about it at the Friday Club Class and then brought me some to try at Sunday's Club Class. They are called, Super Non-stick Needles. Thank you, Gail.  After I've given these new needles a try, I'll be sure to write a post about them.

Okay, let's say you've tried all that stuff and you're still getting skipped stitches.  It's time to look deeper into the problem.  What were you sewing last?  Flannel and Minkie can sure leave a pile of fuzz under your throat plate.  Just remember that if you take that plate off, you have to line the finger from the bobbin assembly into the valley of the throat plate or your precious machine will have a temper tantrum and won't sew at all. I've seen machines packed full of fuzz that can interfere with a good stitch. It might be time to clean out the fuzz and maybe oil things that get oiled. Looks like I need to do that.  I didn't realize there was that much fuzz under the machine I've been using!

When's the last time you took the bobbin assembly apart and cleaned everything?  Okay, I know most of you aren't comfortable taking that area apart and I don't recommend you do this unless you know what you're doing.  But I've seen so many machines that are very dirty in there so it might be time to find someone to do this for you. The same thing goes for taking the tension apart and cleaning the tension discs, getting the fuzz out of that area, and maybe getting any old dirt and oil that might have gotten in there.  You don't oil the tension but oil film can get in there sometimes.  A nice clean machine sure does sound better and work better.

So, if none of this has worked, your issues are probably timing and you really need a pro to tackle that one.  There are 2 timing places, the needle bar that determines the depth that the needle goes down and the hook timing that lines the hook to that thread loop correctly.  Anyone can fix those problems but you do need to know what you're doing. It's tricky. If the main drive shafts are firmly set so there is basically no play in them, timing being checked and set should do the trick.

That pretty much covers all the things to check.  If you need help with any of this, let me know.  You can do most of it yourself but if you need me to bring your machine home with me and deep clean or adjust, you know I can do that.  As always, my goal is to get as many featherweights back to good running condition so they can sew their beautiful stitch for you.  That's what they want to do.

Okay, I'm going to go work on retreat stuff.  You all have a grand day.