Hello everyone!
I haven't been posting much lately, just reading and learning and loving the machine parade! It just gets better with each passing day!! Thanx to everyone for sharing!
I hope I have't made the information sound as confused as I am. . . but here are my questions for anyone who can help. When I got my Redeye treadle, she wouldn't advance the fabric while stitching. . She would only stitch in place. I was hoping after the cleanup she would improve, but after finishing Billy's tute she looks beautiful, but has the same problem. Since this was my first try at all of this, I have tried different adjustments as I have read info here, when someone else asks other questions that I thought might relate to my problem. One day I was able to get a very small stitch, (it was comparable to about what a 1.5 would be on my computerized electric machines. The stitch was very pretty and consistent but I felt it needed to be just a little bit longer and whatever changes I made, either lost the motion completely or went back to the super short stitch). I'm hoping I have just not got the right combination of settings between the things I have adjusted, or a particular order of adjustments. Is there something specific I need to do? Or could the problem be that my feed dogs are too worn? (But if it's the feed dogs, would I have been able to achieve that tiny stitch momentarily?) With the presser foot down and the needle up, just to see what kind of pressure is there, if I try to slide the fabric under the foot, it slides back and forth freely, or either won't move at all, can't seem to find the in-between constant. Here are the adjustments I have tried changing at different intervals. .:
1.The position and amount of pressure on the
presser bar and foot, (using the knob on top, and the
little screw inside that puts tension on the bar)
2. How tight the presser foot lifter is.
3. The stitch regulator knob, which doen't seem to change
the stitch much for the amount of space it screws in and
out.
Do I just need to continue fidgeting with it until I get her to make that tiny little stitch and be happy with that? What is the LONGEST feasible stitch I should expect from her? What other things could I try? Oh, also the belt is not on her, I am just hand wheeling her. . . could THAT be a contributor to the problem? (Though if she was a handcrank would that matter?)
Thanx in advance, I know there's a lot of knowledge out there. Brenda