Help Needs On This Seam Please.

[Sharon Mallory]

I am sewing textile to leather and at each end of the seem like it's gathered. I think it's attention problem but I don't want to I just the tensions until I know what's going on! Can anyone help?

[JLSleather]

You're referring to the suede? Since you're sewing to quite thin fabric, likely not the tension (the knot can't be off by THAT much). I would try laying your project on a flat, hard surface, and tapping the stitching with a mallet or smooth face hammer. Might just relax into place. You don't have to BEAT it, just tap down the line..you'll quickly see what I mean, and it won't damage anything.

[Colt W Knight]

Are using a big walking foot machine for this?

When I sew really light material( compared to vegtan leather) on my walking foot I can get the bunched effect one of two ways:

1. The stitches are long, and the thread tension pulls the fabric taught.

2. The walking foot doesn't feed the light cloth well because the feet have been ground smooth as to not mar the leather.

To fix that, I have to ether set the stitch length real short, or hold my hand flat on the fabric and make sure I keep pressure on the fabric so it feeds through without the bunching.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Colt W Knight

[Northmount]

For thin materials and long stitch length, both top and bottom tensions need to be reduced. Shorter stitches help, but might not be the whole fix.

In the middle of the run, you are probably keeping quite a bit of tension on the materials as you guide it through. So that extra tension, stretching the materials stops the gathering, except for the ends where it is difficult to do that.

Tom