Thread Breaks; Sequin-dot fabric

[Martkyl]

Hello.

I am still pretty new to this machine, but I have been doing some research on thread breaks and maintenance and I feel I have everything set up properly.

I'm trying to do a tight satin stitch (density of 2.0) on sequin-dot fabric, using two sheets of cutaway backing, and on certain designs and I am getting a lot of thread breaks. I'm using madeira thread and 75/11 PD needles.

Does this sound like a maintenance issue or should I change my thread/needles to better suit the fabric?

Thanks!

[Rod or Sharon]

Martkyl,

You failed to say anything about how wide the columns are that you are sewing?

Is the Maderia thread Rayon or poly?

What speeds are you trying to sew this "tight" column at?

Why are you trying to sew such a tight satin stitch?

A density of 4 to 5 with a zig zag underlay with a 15 pt density , 70% border width will do nicely for a lot of columns....just don't know what or why you are doing what you are trying to do...not enough information to go on....

A density of 2 is very tight and I would expect to have more thread breaks with this setting and even more as the column gets narrower...and then this gets compounded by knits and coarse materials and a mulitude of other issues.

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Martkyl]

The columns vary in width. Specifically, I'm putting a 5"x1.5" "Dance" in script font on to the sequin. The material is pretty stretchy and when sewing at a density of 4, there are noticable gaps between threads. The stitch speed is usually around 500spm, anything higher is a lot worse obviously. The thread is poly.

I apologize for the lack of information, the machine's been here for only a couple months and I'm still learning.

I thought it might be too tight. I'm not sure how else to get a solid look on this kind of fabric.

[Rod or Sharon]

That is why the zig zag underlay at 15 pts was suggested. It not only creates a base but is heavy enough to hide any gaps that may be slightly opening up....experiment....maybe 3.5 to 3.8 on density....play with the underlay density and you will see what I mean. You still haven't said how wide the narrowest columns are....use your "min column width tool" to keep the column from going below 10 pts and see if that helps...

2 pt density is too heavy.....if the material is real stretchy, hooping technique can be an issue too. It must not be allowed to flag at all and the presser foot needs to be as low as you can get it without damageing the material from striking it too hard.

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Martkyl]

These things have helped!

I see now that 2.0 density is much too tight. I tried 4 on a different material and it was very smooth and could stitch at a much higher speed.

Thank you very much.