Hi all,

This is my first post so I hope I put this thread in the right area, if not, admin please move it for me.

Well I have a portable Pfaff machine and it always works great except all of a sudden its doing this on the bottom of fabric (see photo). I didn't change any setting, just one day it worked and the next it didn't. I'm sure it's something easy, I just don't know how to fix it. I tried all I can think of and I'm having withdrawls not sewing lol!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Welcome from Kentucky! Is the presser foot down?

That is what I was going to ask too :D:D:D

Ben there, done that! I'm sure others will pipe in with the same message. :-) Also, welcome to the Board!

This happened to me because I didn't thread the machine correctly. This, on a machine I've had for twenty years! Huh? They were right -- rethread your machine and try again. Also, it may sound obvious, make sure your presser foot is down.

I think what happened with my machine is I left it in the garage/three season room (I was sewing out there) and it was just a bit too damp. Instead of being able to quickly thread the machine, I really had to make sure I tugged the thread into the tension area. That was the problem.

Good luck!

Did someone bump the top tension? Check the pressure foot is down and try adjusting the top tension.

Yes, the top stitch looks great but the bottom looks like that. I thought maybe the tension, so I played with adjusting that, I switched threads both top and bobbin thread too. I just don't know what else to try.

I have had that problem, and there are 2 things that could be causing it.
1) Your tension
2) The bobbin thread wasnt wound right
These have been my experiences, I hope it helps you!

Wow, what great support...and quick too, this is awesome!!

Ok, i re-threaded the machine, I changed my presser foot from plastic to metal, I changed upper tension to the highest setting and still the same. I will rewind the bobbin to see if that helps.

Thank you all for your help!

WhoooHoooo, it's working!!!

I re-threaded it again and did what QBeth said and tugged it into the tension area and it worked! I've never had to do this before and not sure why I had to do that now, but who cares...I can sew again!!!

Thank you all again for all your help, I'm soooo happy I found this site!

Looks like a tension disc is not making contact with the thread, it would be the upper tension since all the loops are on the bottom. Try re threading the machine. On some of the newer machines, it is hard to tell if the thread is seated properly in the tension disc and through the check spring. This can also happen if your threading sequence is improper. Bobbins inserted with the thread leading off the wrong direction can also cause this, but from size of the loops I am pretty sure it is the upper tension disc.