Machine Foot making Imprint on Leather

[SonderingSusan]

Hey @TinkerTailor, @MADMAX22 and @JLSleather

I have got smooth bottomed feet for my machine. I have adjusted  the foot so that it only lifts the minimal amount when i sew ( this is what the manufacturers told me to do ) The marks in my leather are now WORSE. Any help , advice on this ! Attached is a picture of the marks. Also , using a different smooth bottomed foot the marks are pretty much the same!  

https://postimg.org/image/v3hhy9bof/

 

Thanks everyone for any input you can offer !

S

[TinkerTailor]

Its not about how high the foot lifts, as long as it clears the material you are ok. What can happen if it is too high is it won't come down far enough to put pressure on the leather when sewing thinner stuff. In actual fact, the drag marks on the leather may indicate it is too low. Hard to tell without seeing machine in action

The real  issue is pressure on the foot which is a different adjustment. Most machines have some kind of adjuster right above the needel to add or take tension away from the spring holding it down. This adjustment should be in the manual, can't remember if you have one or not... You basically want to back the pressure off until the material is lifting up with the needle, and the foot can't hold it down, or it starts to skip stitches, then add just enough pressure to keep this from happening. It also looks like the face of the feed dog may not be sitting level with the world, as evidenced by the fact that only one edge is marking the leather (if that is indeed the bottom of the stitch in the pic). It could also be that one edge of the dog is sharp, and needs a little filing and buffing. These issues are commonplace with asian made parts, which is basically all that is available new these days. A set of cheap diamond needle files and some emery cloth and/or emery cord are great tools to have around if you are getting into doing work on these old machines. Emery cord is basically string with abrasive embedded in it and is great for smoothing burrs in thread guides and needle plates, available from good sewing shops.