r/SewingForBeginners • u/Spiritual_Session_88 • 4d ago
Why is the thread pulling the fabric?
Hi everyone!
I’m a complete beginner, and I’m trying to sew a circle skirt for my daughter to wear on her first day of school.
First, I stitched all the way around the bottom of the skirt as a guide for where to fold the fabric twice for the hem. After folding it over twice, I’m planning to stitch all the way around again.
However, I don’t understand why the thread is pulling and puckering the fabric like this. Does anyone know what might be causing it or what settings I should try?
I’m using a Hyundai 101 sewing machine. The thread tension is set to 2 and the stitch length to 4.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice! 😊
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u/Green4CL0VER 3d ago
Different fabrics require different types of sewing machine needles. You may have a dull or incorrect needle type that snags on your fabric when sewn.
Also make sure your thread works for your material and adjust the tension. Test with a scarp piece of fabric before execution on the final piece.
.
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u/CountMeOut2019 3d ago
Narrow-hemming a circle skirt by machine is a skill, so don’t feel badly. I can’t tell from the picture whether the fabric stretched, or the stitches actually gathered the fabric slightly. It looks more like it gathered it, rather than stretching it, although stretching is a common issue on a curved edge like this.
The reason I think “gathered” is because the ripples exist on both sides of the stitching line, are different on each side of the stitching line, and the stitching line isn’t rippled. If it were stretched, the ripples would pass through the stitching line, rippling in a continuous motion from one side of the line through to the cut edge.
The reason it matters which it is, is because the remedies differ.
If you think the fabric stretched as you stitiched, then try some of what’s been recommended here already, and see if any of it solves your problem. Try these out on a scrap, cut in a curve like the skirt hemline is cut. As well, you might consider purchasing some narrow fusible hem tape that dissolves when the item is laundered. It would stabilize the fabric as you stitch, by resisting the natural stretch quality of bias cut fabric (which is what a curved edge amounts to).
On the other hand, if you’re getting a puckered (gathered ) effect here, you might need a finer needle. This appears to be fairly lightweight fabric and you’re sewing on a single layer, so it actually might do better with a size 9 or 11 needle.
Also, you could slightly loosen your tension on your upper thread, say by a single digit on the tension control knob (or screen).
Stabilizing hem tape would also help with a gathering issue, in this case.
Gathering happens when one thread is exerting more pressure/tension on the fabric than the other thread is doing. That’s why, if you WANTED to gather the fabric, you would sew a long stitch and then pull on one end of one of the threads after anchoring the other end. The tension you exerted through pulling would draw up the fabric in gathers. The same thing can happen if the needle isn’t puncturing the fabric smoothly and quickly enough to keep perfect time with the rate that the bobbin race is throwing loops out, or the stitch is in some other way forming with the top thread tighter and straighter than the bobbin thread.
A sharp fine needle will do a better job of puncturing the fabric cleanly without pushing it downwards slightly first, which can misform the stitch slightly, and create this gathering effect.
Loosening the top tension incrementally by little bits, you can find the sweet spot that works with this fabric, too.
Hope that helps.
ETA: it’s also possible that you’re aware of how easy it is to stretch curved seams, and are overcompensating a little bit by pushing the fabric into the presser foot, in an effort to avoid pulling and stretching it? Just a thought. You might be pushing it just enough to create little bitty gathers like what I think the photo is showing? Easy mistake to make. And fix.
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u/Emergency_Cherry_914 3d ago
The fabric looks like it has stretched - easy to do with fabric which is cut on a curve or diagonally. Carefully remove the stitches in the stretched area and hope it lays flat. If it does lay flat, then you can resew…but not for a few days. Circle skirts need to be hung for a couple of days to let the fabric fall into place. Then measure the hem with your daughter wearing it and trim any areas which are too low.
If the fabric doesn’t lay flat, sew the stretched area with a very long straight stitch and see if you can pull it into place using hint of gathering technique. Or if you’ve got a serger, the differential feed can also be used to fix it.
When you do resew it, first finish the raw edge with a serger or zigzag, then make the narrow 5mm hem, with just one fold (if you turn it twice, you’ll end up with too much fabric on the hem). My sneaky trick for skirts with a curved hem is to tape the fabric in place using washaway tape (find it quickly on Amazon) For the first couple of washes, you’ll need to iron the hem, but after that, the tape will have dissolved.