needle breaks

[sewsew7]

Hi there. This is my first posting, so please be gentle. LOL. My XT has been having a big issue with needle breaks for the past week. I am currently sewing on my hat hoop on hats with buckram laminated front section. I am breaking a needle every hat. I have checked my needle orientation, made sure that i have been installing the scarf to the back, checked to make sure that I am using sharps, and have made sure that I am hooping the hats tight and flat. Can anyone give me some ideas of what else I should check? Thanks.

[Wishes]

If the stitching is breaking in the same place each time it could be the design. There may be too many stitching all in one place that are causing this. The other problem could be the seam. If your break is at or very near the seam you might try moving the hat just a smiggen to get it off the seam or move the design parts apart so the aren't directly on the seam. Say the l lands right in the seam. That could be a problem. Another possibility is that the density is too much. If you go to the area that has the most thread breaks and make the density a higher number that will put less thread in the design and could help. If you are using an unstructered hat than you could try using another layer of backing. Hope some of this helps. Margaret