QuiltFaerie

Honestly, Judy, there is no telling what I might say next. I sure keep them guessing at work. :-)

QuiltFaerie

Joe,

I don't know if I ever thanked you for your help. I got the tension just perfect on the Singer 27. I took off the piece that hangs down under the thumb nut. I think it is for separating the tension discs but I don't know what it is called. Once I removed that one small piece, I was able to adjust the tension correctly.

I am now happily sewing along on this beautiful old machine.

Gail

Muv

Hello QuiltFaerie,

Congratulations on your lovely machine.

I appreciate you are trying to get the machine stitching, but you need to keep the thumb tab on with the tension discs and keep on working until you get the tension right with the tension discs properly assembled. You might find these posts on my blog helpful.

http://www.lizzielenard-vintagesewin...ension%20discs

Have you checked the tension on the shuttle? If it is too loose this will have the same effect as the top tension being too tight. You need to do the shuttle dangle test, which is shown here

http://www.lizzielenard-vintagesewin...ng-bobbin.html

You cannot be sure that the spring is too tight until you have checked the shuttle, adjusted it if necessary, and tried the stitch with the tension discs properly assembled with the thumb tab, spring and nut in place.

If you want to try Peek metal polish (link on the blog if you want to buy it online) it will remove the oil residue and polish the metal all in one go. Don't be tempted to try and get the oil residue off the decals in the same way because you could end up stripping the decals.

Good luck!

J Miller

Gail,

You're welcome, but like Muv said that piece was there for a reason. I did not remove anything on my machine. After working with both the top and bottom tensions I switched out the top tension spring for a lighter one. All the parts are still there.

You're not done with the tensions yet. Follow Muv's advise and make it right.

Joe

QuiltFaerie

Hey, what is the purpose of that thumb tab, do you know? I found it odd that taking it off was what made the difference as it didn't seem to really add much dimension to the tensioner.

Yes, I also adjusted the shuttle tension. I have a longarm so doing the bobbin test is a familiar activity.

Gail

QuiltFaerie

Duh, never mind, just read Muv's blog link.

Gail

QuiltFaerie

Well, the planets must have just aligned or something because I added back the thumb tab and the tension is still working. Maybe just playing with it, etc. finally got it working correctly. And now I know what the thumb tab is for also. The things I learn on this site.

Gail

J Miller

So did I. I realized my machine is a later one that does not have the thumb tab, so now I know what it is for.

Learn something new every day, and life stays interesting.

Joe