help! Skipping stitches while sewing fleece
 

I'm sewing a fleece scarf. When I sewed the first part where the thickness wasn't so bad I didn't have any problem. I was using coats & Clark regular all purpose thread. Then I turned the scarf right side out and go to sew a stop stitch and now I'm skipping stitches. I switched to a Guterman higher quality thread and it's still happening. I have a Janome at Memory Craft 8200. Does anybody have any ideas why this is happening?

Put in a new, size 90 needle and make sure it's pushed all the way up. If that doesn't work, your timing may be off, and you'll have to take it to the shop.

I would suggest a ball point needle, which is made for knits.

Check to make sure your thread hasn't slipped out of the tension disks. I had a similar problem with my 6600 and fleece and I don't know if it's static or what, but I'd get bad tension and nasty noises and retreading fixed my problem. Just a thought.

Is your presser foot flat? If it is tipping as you sew, you will get skipped stitches. This happens when going over thick seam allowances in jeans, for example. If this is the cause of the skipped stitches, the solution is to place a shim under whichever part of the presser foot that is tilting down -- usually the back of the foot, but could be the right side also. I am wondering if the seam allowance in conjunction with your distance from the seam is causing your presser foot to tilt to one side (higher on one side or the other). The shim can be a small piece of plastic or cardboard.

When sewing fleece, I always use a ball point needle, a walking foot and a zig zag stitch. The zig zag doesn't have to be very wide, just a bit. I had skipped stitches until I did these things. Not sure which of the three actually prevented the skipped stitches. Craftsy has a good class on sewing with knits if you're interested in learning more. The first project is a pullover hoodie that comes out really well.

make sure you are not pulling the fleece through the foot and feed dogs. When I sew fleece (not often) I let the feed dogs and presser foot do all the work. My job is to keep it going through straight.

All the suggestions are good. Hope you find a solution.

I have a 8200 and it isn't the best machine for thick seams. I use a shim when I sew jeans and take it very slow. I just made a fleece scarf and I used polyester thread, a topstitch needle and a shim and took it really slow and didn't have a problem. I think the sharp needle with a larger eye helps the thread go through the material. Hope all of these suggestions work.

on really thick seams - such as a hem on a pair of jeans - along with using a shim - and a heavier needle, I will manually turn the wheel stitch by stitch until I am over the lump.

Thank you all for your helpful comments. I ended up ripping out the errant seam, turning the scarf back inside out and trinning the seam allowance. I also slowed my sewing speed, and this pretty much solved the issue.