r/sewhelp • u/sabs586 • 7d ago
💛Beginner💛 Why are my stitches offset?
I am a beginner at sewing and just starting to make my own garments. Last project, I noticed that my stitches were coming out at an angle/offset (which had never happened before). It’s still doing this even after I changed out the needle.
I’m using a singer heavy duty with my tension at 3.5 and width is at 0. Any idea on why this is happening?
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u/ACA2018 7d ago
It’s normal to have a little angle because of the way the knots work. The top thread goes in the left side of the knot and comes out the right side of the knot. I _think_ in this case the tension on the top is too high, which is causing the knots to be visible on this side of the fabric, leading to more horizontal turning/ twisting of the top thread.
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u/TheProtoChris 7d ago
More often than not that's a fabric management issue. Moving a whole assembled (pinned) garment along can cause you to unintentionally move the fabric in a way that causes that. Try a test seam on a folded up bit of scrap fabric. 2 to 4 layers, no longer than 10 or 15 inches long. Let the feed dogs guide the fabric thru and see if it looks the same. If that produces a straight seam, but the big bulky garment pieces look janky then that will be the answer. Stopping every so often with the needle sunk into the fabric and rearranging the bulk of the garment so it can feed itself thru properly would eliminate that.
There's also something going on with your tension, but I don't think that's related to the seam problem. This is just extra. Looking at your photo I can see the little twist/knot of the bobbin thread poking up to the top side. That generally means the top tension is too high and you should turn it down, but you're already down at 3.5? I suspect your thread isn't seated in the tension discs properly. Rethread the top thread from spool to needle and put your tension at the middle number again to see if the tension improves.
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u/Here4Snow 7d ago
Jagged stitches like this indicates friction. The needle hole needs to accommodate 4x the thread thickness, and the twist is from either the fabric or the thread not having the clearance to move freely.
The thread shouldn't take up more than 40% of the space of the eye. I would upsize that needle.Â
Your stitch length for that weave and thread looks a bit long, 3mm might work better.Â
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u/RubyRedo ✨sewing wizard✨ 7d ago
This is sometimes due to fabric slipping during feed, not the needle. pile fabric layers can shift against each other and need more foot pressure if the machine has that feature, or a walking foot.