Has anyone else had any trouble with their feed dogs pulling one way or another? I have a Brother Innovis 40, and I swear that when I try to sew a 1/4" seam the fabric is pulled to the left. Is there any way to check this out without taking to the dealer? Thanks.

hmmm, do you hold your fabric all the way through? you can use your left fingers to hold it straight under the foot all the way and your right fingers in front or use a stilleto for that.

If I place my fabric in my machine and start sewing, it takes little if any help from me to sew a straight line.
But I have heard that some other owners of Brothers, have this same problem. I am not sure if it is the same machine as yours.

I had my singer do this and the problem was 2 years of lent built up around the feed dogs. Might want to check there. Save a service fee.

Your needle may be bent...???

Have you had this machine long? If this is a new to you machine, you might need a walking foot. If you've had it a while and the problem just started look for lint build up under the feed dogs.

Are you using a special quarter inch foot?

Sometimes the specially-made foot doesn't sit or meet up with the feed dogs properly, one side is either not making any contact with the feed dogs or is making much less contact. This uneven contact with the feed dogs causes the fabric to feed unevenly.

The remedy...use a full sized foot and change the needle position to make the quarter inch seam allowance you need.

Hope this helps,

Julie