Wool Blend Hat

[Maple Valley Joe]

I have been trying to sew a simple design on a wool blend cap with a rather stiff front. I have not been able to get this to sew out right. The lettering is simple block letters. So for it has broken two needles, had constant thread breaks, had false bobbin breaks, the list goes on.
I am able to sew this out fine on a lightly structured cap but these stiff caps are driving me nuts.

Any help is appreciated.

[signman]

jump back in the posts-there were some great suggestions within the last week on hat problems-I printed them out to experiment since I'm having similar problems with FlexFit hats while the design works fine on others.
Quickly thinking...either the hat is moving in the hoop-which pulls the needle sideways, or the pressure foot is set wrong allowing the face to move up and down.
The WACF hat frame has the clamp to hold the brim firmly-keeping it from hitting the back of the needle head-while the CCF frame (older style) does not-and the brim rubs the back of the needle housing as the hat turns-and that will pull the hat face down-again, snapping needles and breaking thread-distorting the design. Service tech pointed this out to me-problem solved for most of the hats. I ordered a psuedo 'clamp' from Melco to retrofit the CCF hoops-looked cheesy but it works!

Roland

[Juli in Kona]

Try taking a steam iron to the cap, especially the seam. And be sure the presser foot is set at the correct height for your machine.