Originally Posted by J Miller

Christine,
You're welcome about the help. Glad to do it.

I think .... subject to further experimentation ... that I have the Kenmore's problems sorted out.
It's not the fleece,
It's not exactly the DCx1F serger needles I'm using,
It's the eye ......

When seated to the same length, needle bar to point, the eye on the DCx1F sits one eye worth higher than the OEM needle. That is the problem. This machine is critical with the eye placement.

Tonight I was sewing on a cotton / polyester blend scrap and it puckered up the material badly. Too much top tension. It also was skipping stitches too. We worked with it to no avail, even hosed the top tension out with aerosol cleaner-lubricant. Didn't help. I was trying the stitches with the top tension set at 1. Almost no tension and it still wasn't doing well.
So I remembered an email I'd sent Miriam this morning about the eye position, reached up and lowered the needle an eye width then tried again.
I went from tension setting 1 back to a normal 3 with good stitches and no skipped stitches. With that in mind I stuck the fleece under the foot and gave it another try. Perfect little stitches. Nicely formed with good tension top and bottom.
So, there's the it of it. This machine is not so critical on needle length, but that eye has to be in the right place or it ain't happy.

Joe