Basic sewing question

[islandsewing]

Hi everyone, I have a kind of basic sewing question.

I have a sailrite ultrafeed ls1. Since I have no prior sewing experience, and no other machine to compare it to I'm not sure if it's just how it works or if something is wrong.

When I'm sewing, the material is being pulled through the machine with the walking feet. I find it very difficult to keep the stitch line straight. It kind of wobbles back and forth. I do have a magnetic sewing guide which keeps it very straight, but as you know, it can't be used on every seam.
Is there anything I can do to feed better or is it normal or is it just the machine I have. I've played around a little with the walking foot tensioner, with little change.

I've seen youtube videos with commercial machines that will run an almost perfect (from my perspective) line unassisted. If I tried that, it will probably run a circle or a figure 8.

[brmax]

Congratulations on the machine purchase, and Welcome to the site.
I am looking also at different new issues with machines and fabricating stuff, i wonder if the rear foot is turned slightly from parallel or if the feed dog has more / burr on top of a side making more pull on a side.  Just throwing this out someone can surley hit it shortly
Good Day

[Tejas]

You might want ask the question on the Sailrite forum.

http://forum.sailrite.com/

[islandsewing]

I'm not sure it's brand specific, just wanted to ask people who use various michines if it's common.
I did start an email dialog with one of their techs, but not sure he understood what I was trying to say. Plus at the time I was very new to the machine and sewing, so I was thinking it was most likely operator error.

[Stitches]

Well I seem to have a problem with my machine doing the same sort of thing(nakajima tdu-n62).  It also seems to pull the top piece of whatever I'm sewing (marine vinyl) sideways away from the bottom piece of material to where the selvage won't stay lined up. And that's with it stapled!  Is It just operator error? I'm also very green when it comes to sewing

[bobbin]

You could try increasing the tension down on the presser foot (the middle one).  Do it incrementally and see if that doesn't help even things out.  You can also try dropping the feed dogs, but I'd opt for the top/down option first. 

Also, tap right into the Sailright forum... they'll be more familiar with the machine than I am. 

(Stitches, I have a Nakajima 380 cylinder bed that I bought for a song.  I like it!)

[sofadoc]

Rotate the hand wheel while paying particular attention to the feed dog. At the highest position, do the teeth of the feed dog come up even with the surface of the plate? Or do they come up just a little higher than the surface? Mine comes up just barely above the plate.

It seems to me that if your feed dog is coming up too high, or too low, that might cause the problem that you're describing.  But an expert like Bob Kovar (ad at top of page) could tell you for sure. He's very helpful with over-the-phone questions. 

[bobbin]

I was thinking along those very same lines, Sofa.!  But I always try the top/down approach first.  It's less intimidating to turn a screw than monkey around with raising/lowering feed dogs.  :)

[Mike]

You could try increasing the tension down on the presser foot (the middle one).  Do it incrementally and see if that doesn't help even things out.  You can also try dropping the feed dogs, but I'd opt for the top/down option first.  

Also, tap right into the Sailright forum... they'll be more familiar with the machine than I am.  

(Stitches, I have a Nakajima 380 cylinder bed that I bought for a song.  I like it!)

I was thinking just the opposite  I like a lite pressure on my feet I loosen it to the point that I can hold the material from moving if I try  . but I think its just practice and experience

[bobbin]

Interesting Mike.  Why do you prefer that? I like having the fabric securely held in place by the feet. 

[MinUph]

A new machine should be adjusted properly. A new sewer is not necessarily adjusted at all. If the machine checks out with Sailrite then you can say you need practice.

[JuneC]

When I first started using a walking foot I was floored by its "maneuverability" after having used only a home machine.  I couldn't get a straight stitch to save me.  When the bottom and top feet came together to draw the fabric assembly back, the lift off the deck permitted the fabric to go all over the place.  You come to appreciate this later.  It took me probably 6 months to a year of daily sewing to master a straight stitch (I'm a slow learner  :D).  

It could be the machine though - check with SailRite.

My new Highlead makes me crazy with canvas (vinyl doesn't show it) where it drags the fabric to the left and I have to fight it constantly.  Since I'm only doing canvas for my own boat, no big deal anymore, but I think it's an adjustment issue.  The timing of the feed dog and upper foot is such that the two are together when the feed dog is below the level of the plate.  This causes the right selvedge to buckle upwards (towards the sky).  The next stitch catches the fabric just a hair to the right because it was not level with the deck when the needle hits it (I think).  I'm still trying to analyze the behavior but I do believe this is the cause.  

June  

[jojo]

Are you practicing with a light weight material? If so, that could be the cause...runaway material. You should be using something heavy....vinyl, sunbrella, or upholstery weight material, folded.

[sofadoc]

I realize that being an inexperienced operator could be a big part of the problem. But thinking back to when I first started sewing, I don't remember having much trouble keeping the fabric straight. Sure, I had the "Jack Rabbit" starts, the puckered seams, tangled bobbins and such. But if I fed the material unassisted, it went through fairly straight.

True, a brand new machine SHOULD arrive well-adjusted. But we hear horror stories on these forums all the time about machines that were drop-shipped straight from the factory without any professional set-up.

I still think that you might need some adjustment done to the timing of the presser bar/feed dog.
Like Bobbin says, it would be nice if you can make that adjustment from the top, and leave the feed dog alone. But frankly, on every machine that I've ever had, I find that turning the presser bar tension adjustment all the way in either direction makes a negligible difference.

[Mojo]

My wife is a very accomplished seamstress but the first time she sat down at a walking foot she had issues. She had to adjust her techniques some to accomodate the walking foot and allowing the machine to do the work.

I will sometimes botch a stitch run solely on me getting sloppy with my technique and developing a bad feed habit.

I also agree with Bobbin. You could have a machine that is out of adjustment. I do not know if Sailrite drop ships or if they actually set up their machines before shipping.

June does have the answer to inexperience though. Spend as much time as possible sitting down and sewing. Grab all kinds of scrap material and make little things and graduate from there into bigger things.

Chris