Singer 211 U566 Skips Stitches When Thickness Changes

[Sailor]

I'm trying to sew something that requires sewing a strip of leather that jumps from being 4 layers thick to 2 layers thick. When the needle gets to the thinner section, the foot is still partially on the thick section (so not pressing hard on the thin bit?) and stitches are skipped until the foot comes off the thick section. I'm guessing this is due to leather moving with the needle. Apart from this little transition section, the stitches are perfect on the rest of the strip, great tension, no skipping.

What is the best way to resolve this?
I've only had the machine a few months and foot-pressure isn't something I've played with on this machine. So is it as simple as increasing the pressure as much as I can so it squishes it?
Or do I need to skive the hell out of it so it's a gradual tapered decrease instead of a big step?
Or is there another method?
I would usually cut the pieces so it would only step down one layer at a time, but even then it skips one or 2 stitches.

I hope all that made sense!
I've been lurking on here for a bit anyway, usually searching for questions that I have that have already been answered, but this is my first post, so 'Hi!'

Thanks in advance.

[gottaknow]

The condition you describe is called a "flag" skip. The leather is rising with the needle, not pinching the thread to form a loop for the hook. The easiest way to resolve this without changing the design is to simply hold down the bottom ply of leather as the feet come off the step so it doesn't rise with the needle. You can use about anything from a screwdriver to a pair of tweezers, whatever you have handy. Make the few stitches slowly as you press the bottom ply down until the feet are flat again. Make sure you don't sew over what you use to hold it with.

Regards, Eric

[Wizcrafts]

I encounter this when I hem jeans and the feet are on the tall seams. I use a small screw driver to hold down the denim in front of the needle until the inside foot can make contact with the material. If I remember, I also increase the ratio of alternation to the maximum to let the feet lift and lower more, via the curved slot on the back of the machine.

Some of the new top end walking foot machines have the foot lift ratio adjuster on top, as a big knob.