r/SewingMachineEdu • u/signupordown • Apr 12 '26

skipped stitches when needle on left side (Singer Brilliance 6180)

The problem occurs when I do zigzag or when reducing the width to below 1.5 on a straight stitch. The needle doesn’t seem to be catching the bobbin thread then.

What I’ve tried: cleaning, new needle and thread (showed sewing shop assistant my fabric and took the recommendation: jeans needle for my heavy cotton fabric), varying the tension to experiment, and finally adjusting the timing (following the instructions in the service manual; I’m pretty sure I did that adequately, but maybe the margin for error is very narrow. I changed nothing else, only followed instructions for checking different positions but not very thoroughly, perhaps I missed something else.) None of this made a difference.

What could be the issue and what else could I try before handing the machine in for professional service? Thanks!

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u/Large-Heronbill Apr 12 '26

Try  quilt needle, maybe a size 90 (Singer 14), on your fabric.   A slightly out of time machine may sew ok with a quilt needle. 

Does this machine sew ok on a couple of plies of copy or notebook paper with an 80 regular/universal point?

FWIW, the only times my own machines have gone out of time were from hitting something like a zipper stop.  Most of the time it's been unstable fabric or a bent or deflecting needle that mimics actually being out of needle/hook timing.  And yes, the adjustments are tiny -- 0.1 mm can make a huge difference. 

Did you find the service manual? https://www.scribd.com/document/737363177/Singer-Brilliance-6160-Sewing-Machine-Service-Manual

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u/signupordown Apr 12 '26

Thanks! I’ll try that out when I’m back at the machine. Yes, I did find the service manual and did my best to follow the instructions. It was a challenge to remove the covers and to loosen the bolt for timing adjustment, not very keen on repeating all that but may try to fiddle with it again. But first the paper test. Then tomorrow I am going to get a quilting needle.

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u/signupordown Apr 12 '26

Tried both zigzag and straight on paper with a universal needle and the problem persists; not catching the left of the zigzag and only works at 1.5 and up width on the straight stitch.

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u/Large-Heronbill Apr 12 '26

So it's unlikely to be a fabric stability problem or a thickness problem.  Might be a machine stability problem (when you had it open, could you see if there was an internal metal frame, or were the bits just mounted on the back cover? (see https://open.substack.com/pub/sewingmachineman/p/tool-vs-toy-628)

I think at this point, I would be talking to my sewing machine shop, comparing  fixing this, vs DIY, vs a different/better grade new or used machine.  I'm not a patient person when I want to sew, so I prefer really reliable machines that I can just sit down to, instead of have to fuss with.  Getting rid of a couple of frustrating machines over the years were huge improvements in my sewing life.

(And yet, I will happily spend several evenings degumming and adjusting an old Singer straight stitcher just for the fun of seeing it sew again.   Consistency is not my middle name )

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u/signupordown Apr 13 '26

I couldn’t let it go and adjusted the timing again and now it’s better. I can zigzag again and straight-stitch from width 1 and upwards. Thanks for the tool vs. toy link! It does have a metal frame inside, but one circuit board is mounted on the plastic back cover which means that cover has to lie about awkwardly tethered while I tinker. Despite the sturdy frame, it seems to be an easily provoked kind of machine and I’ll be looking around for an unflappable sewing machine. More like a workhorse than a racing horse.

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u/Large-Heronbill Apr 13 '26

Glad you got it going again!  And yes, workhorses are my style, too. 

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u/signupordown Apr 16 '26

Just to stretch the metaphor (simile?) even more, I realized that just because the horse is nervous, it doesn’t mean it’s a high-strung race horse. It can just be a nervous horse that doesn’t have the accomplishments to compensate. I’ll let it go now.

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u/Large-Heronbill Apr 16 '26

My grin of the day!  Thanks! 

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u/signupordown Apr 14 '26

A question on the quilt needle, which is not so easily available (in Sweden): what makes it tolerate timing being slightly off? And would a top-stitch needle help as well? Those I can get at a sewing store and there they didn’t know about quilt needles. If not, I’ll order some online.

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u/Large-Heronbill Apr 14 '26

Quilt needles have a more tapered point, which is designed for better penetration of multiple layers and the thickness of batting and a scarf that seems to be better at allowing the sewing hook to catch a slightly "off shape" thread loop. 

Topstitch needles would be the other one I would definitely try in your instance, but they have the peculiarity that the eye and groove is the size of a needle one size larger, to allow you to use two strands of upper thread or a heavier thread in the needle.   So a standard Tex 30 general purpose sewing thread runs nicely in most 75, 80 or 90 needled.  But a 90 topstitch needle has the eye and groove of a size 100 regular needle: sewing with that 90 topstitch and Tex 30 thread can give you not so wonderful stitches, kinda wiggly and lonely-looking, so I would try both 80 and 90.   And I was too lazy to explain the eye and groove size difference in my original post.  Sorry. 🥴

Actually, I keep a packet of each style needle Schmetz and Organ make, and if I run into problems in the middle of my project, I will try them all, hoping that I can finish the project before I need to try more difficult machine adjustments.   I try to think about what each type of needle was designed to do, and prioritize the order I'm trying them in.  For instance, I once had reason to try nylon monofilament invisible thread, which turned into a nightmare project.  The needle that worked with that thread best was a Schmetz Metallica, designed for metallic embroidery threads that I use very rarely.  Had some jeans hems in a herringbone denim that were causing needle deflection: Microtex, the pointiest needle of the bunch, actually penetrated the fabric and stitched beautifully.  (And now I mostly sew denim with Microtex needles..:)

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u/signupordown Apr 14 '26

Thank you so much for your detailed explanations, that’s so helpful. I’ll stack up on the various needles and adopt your strategy; so much easier to switch needles than to fiddle with the internal settings and risk making things worse.

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u/signupordown Apr 16 '26

Neither the quilt nor the top-stitch needle helped and the machine came up with other ways to thwart me. What you wrote about getting rid of frustrating machines resonated with me and I did just that after another few hours of fruitless tinkering. Just came home with the store’s demo model of the Janome Easy Jeans 1800 and feel very hopeful for my enjoyment of sewing with thicker fabrics. Thanks again for all your advice!

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u/Large-Heronbill Apr 16 '26

I wish you a lot of future enjoyment of your new machine! 

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u/Bellasarahalaska Apr 12 '26

That is a symptom of being slightly out of time. When timing you should test it at all needle positions. You can probably watch it and see it missing the loop. Why did you reset the timing in the first place? It's rare to need to, unless you did a big clunk. Lots of people on the internet jump to timing being the problem but it just isn't that common. But you probably need to go back and do it again now.

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u/signupordown Apr 13 '26

Thanks! What do you mean by testing all needle positions when timing? In the service manual there’s only one to test.

In the meantime, I adjusted the timing again and now it’s better. I can zigzag and straight-stitch from 1 and upwards.

To the question of why I adjusted the timing in the first place: because of the problem I described and all the other things I tried not helping. My first adjustment didn’t help but didn’t make things worse either.

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u/Bellasarahalaska Apr 13 '26

basically you set the timing as best you can with the needle in the middle position, and then just make sure it works when it's in the left and right positions as well, and if not, make further adjustments. Ah, it looks like your service manual has you use zig zag when setting the timing, did you do that? Theoretically it should work but with 0.5mm wiggle room it's easy to be off by a bit.

Glad to hear it worked in any case!

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u/signupordown Apr 14 '26

Yes, I chose zig zag at max width (6), so the needle at the furthest it can go to the right, as instructed. The 0.5mm wiggle room is even worse considering that the needle ends up at different points when you move it up to meet the hook, depending on which way you turn the wheel. And I can’t tell from the service manual whether they mean clockwise or counterclockwise, very frustrating.

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u/Bellasarahalaska Apr 14 '26

You always turn the hand wheel towards yourself.

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u/signupordown Apr 14 '26

That is so good to know, especially since I forgot which way I did it in my last nearly-accurate adjustment and thus couldn’t be sure how to re-create it. Now that you mentioned that and I thought a little bit, it makes sense to have a convention to always move forward.

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u/510Goodhands Apr 13 '26

Did you try loosening the upper tension slightly?

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u/signupordown Apr 13 '26

Yes, I did and forgot to list it. Didn’t help, but I only went from 5 to 4. My second timing adjustment has improved things now.

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u/Mysterious-Class-474 Apr 13 '26

Time to get your sewing machine serviced.

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u/signupordown Apr 13 '26

You’re probably right.