Saturday, September 5, 2009

Machine tension

Browsing on the net this week I found this article on machine tension on the Threads website with something completely new to me:

"Be sure your presser foot is down when you make the tension adjustment." 

This is an eyeopener to me. I tried it and it really seems to work better than with the presser foot up. I never thought of this making a difference and sure have never heard about this. Did you know?

For more information on the subject see the original article.

13 comments:

  1. Absolutely no clue! I will now always do it with the presser foot down. But, it does make sense.

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  2. Yep, it does make sense, but I never read that information before...
    Thanks for the tip.

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  3. They don't always tell you the important part do they!

    Love your Chanel jacket.

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  4. I love that article. Thanks for bring it to our attention. I had no idea! Threads also has another article here that's explains thread tension.

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  5. I know the presser foot has to be down to bring the tension discs together... but never put two and two together. Wow! Thanks:-)
    Terri

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  6. We learn something new about sewing all the time. Thanks for posting that.

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  7. I thought it was bad for the tension discs to adjust it with the foot down. shows what I know.

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  8. Thanks for the link to the article, Sigrid. It's interesting because I've always adjusted the tension as I sew, that is with the foot down. I don't remember anyone telling me to do it this way. It's just something I've always done. Natural instinct or maybe I'm too lazy to lift the presser foot to adjust the tension. :)

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  9. Thanks, Sigrid, I will definitely try this tip. I didn't know about it, but I do remember an "opposite" - never thread your machine with the presser foot down, because it presses the tension disks together. So, thread with foot up, then adjust with foot down - my new mantra!

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  10. wow, I've been sewing for 30 years and no one has ever told me that! Thanks so much.

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  11. My Viking dealer specifically told me to make any changes to tension, stitch, stitch length/width when the presser foot was UP. The changes wouldn't "take" if it was down.

    She was completely, utterly, 110% WRONG.

    I haven't noticed any difference in effectiveness of changing things with the presser foot up or down.

    I love your jacket and your trim! I am going to make my own trim on my next Chanel-style jacket.

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  12. I saw this same tip in a PR thread about 6 months ago. In my 30+ years of sewing, I never thought of this, nor was it ever mentioned to me. Surely, there is ALWAYS something new to learn about sewing!

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  13. Thanks for the tip. I had never heard of it.

    I love your trim. The black weaving throughout is very pretty.

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