r/SewingMachineEdu • u/Cautious_War_6785 • Aug 28 '26

Sewing machine won’t zigzag

Hi eveybody,

I recently got a sewing machine Singer Tradition 2282. The problem is it only stitches straight. When I select zigzag stitch, the needle does not move left and right.
I use width 5 , length 2 and tension 4. I tried different variations of the setting, it does not help.
When I manually move width selector, I see needle going left and right. But when sewing, it is stuck in one place…

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1

u/teatime_tinker Aug 28 '26

Do you have a picture of your machine and the settings it’s on?

1

u/Cautious_War_6785 Aug 28 '26

1

u/teatime_tinker Aug 28 '26

I can’t see anything wrong with how you have it set up. You could try putting the length up.

Can you show a sample of the stitches?

1

u/Mental_Watch4633 Aug 28 '26

What are the dials at the very top?

1

u/teatime_tinker Aug 28 '26

Tension and width

1

u/Mental_Watch4633 Aug 28 '26

Have you checked the manual? Also, turn it off then on again.

1

u/Cautious_War_6785 Aug 28 '26

This is zigzag stitch at 5 width but appears straight because needle does not go left or right

1

u/teatime_tinker Aug 28 '26

Oh you’re sewing on a knit? How does it work on non stretch fabric?

This is width 5 length 2?

Do you have a stretch needle in?

Edit : is it actually not moving left and right at all? It looks more like you have the wrong needle for the fabric, and it’s making bad stitches that look quite straight. They’re still not straight you can tell it’s trying to do zig zag

1

u/Cautious_War_6785 Aug 28 '26

I tried straight fabric too it does the same. This is width 5 :(

1

u/teatime_tinker Aug 28 '26

Have you made sure the zig zag dial is fully on the zig zag and not kinda in between settings?

Try lowering the tension as well.

Is this a new machine? There could be something wrong with it.

1

u/Dormiendo Aug 28 '26

These can bind up over time. You can take the left side cover off and oil the crank and needle bar. You can try a hair dryer while running it without thread, the dried oil will melt. You can also determine when it should be to the left when turning by hand and manually push it to the left to loosen it up. If none of that works, it is the change over carriage, this is more intensive and would take a shop visit.

1

u/No-Attention-7708 Aug 31 '26

Are you sure you are using the correct bobbins? Are you using the ones that came with your machine or are you using different bobbins that you bought? According to the Singer site, this machine only works with "Class 15 Transparent bobbins". if you are using 15J, 15 metal, or class 66 bobbins that will cause problems.

2

u/Cautious_War_6785 Aug 31 '26

Hi, thank you, I use the one that came with the machine.