Machine Minute: Tension Trouble

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I'm Jennifer, here with another Machine Minute brought to you by Baby Lock and the Symphony machine. Today we're going to talk about tension troubles. Does that ever happen when you're sewing along that your thread gets into a gnarl or a nest? Let me to share with you a couple of tips for how to straighten that out. First of all, it's important to know which thread is causing the problem. If your thread nest or gnarls appear on the underside of the fabric the problem is with your top thread tension. If the thread mess appears on top of the fabric, it's your bobbin thread that's the culprit. So let me share with you one super quick and easy way to solve your tension headaches. Where tension really is important is inside this part of the machine where you can't see. The number one thing to do if you're having tension troubles is to unthread your machine and make sure that your presser foot is in the up position. Now it's natural to want to put your presser foot down when you're thinking about threading the needle because you want to be able to have a clear view. If you accidentally leave your presser foot down the tension discs inside the machine are actually closed shut, and that means your thread can't lay in between them as it should. So before you start threading your machine, lift that presser foot up and then start routing your thread through. Now every machine is a little bit different, but they all follow basically the same path. When it gets to the center here, where you go down and up and back down. And it's inside there that the important part of seating the thread between those tension discs happen. So again presser foot up allows those discs to separate and the thread to lay in between them. If you do that, chances are you can fix your own tension problem if that lies with your upper thread. Now if the bobbin is your problem, just do the same thing. Remove your bobbin and rethread your machine. It may be that you seated your bobbin in upside down. There is a direction that you want the threat to come off. And the machine generally tells you -- on this machine it has a little diagram here, but look in your manual to make sure you're putting your bobbin in correctly. Seat it in the machine, guide it through, and make sure you're seating it properly. And you should be ready to sew. These are too quick fixes to your tension problems. It's super easy. Have fun sewing.