I need help with why my machine is skipping stitches.
 

I have a new Janome Artistic 18 and it was working great once I got King Tut Thread but now it skips stitches when it goes backward. I even unplugged the the encoders and it still skips! Any ideas?

I have rethreaded the machine.
Put in a new Needle
Reloaded the bobbin

And it still skips when I do any sort of backward motion.

I'm calling the dealer tomorrow but in the meantime ... any ideas???

Bonnie

Is it when you sew in reverse, or is it when you are doing free motion quilting?

I had a similar problem with my Janome. I can't free motion on it, but it works just fine with a walking foot.

Make sure you're using the right size bobbin and that it's inserted correctly. I was using "whatever bobbin" and then threw out all my bobbins and bought new ones. That helped a LOT! But I'm sure others aren't as dumb as I was!

Have you cleaned it? Depends on size of needles and what you are sewing.
A friend was sewing duck cloth and her machine was doing that.
I told her to put in a 16 needle and worked great
LC

I'm assuming your machine is a longarm, mine skipped stitches when my foot was too high. It only skipped when stitching backwards, I didn't realize that would happen until my fix it guy clued me in

some Janome machines don't like some brands of thread. Perhaps try another brand to see if this is the problem.

Sounds goofy for advise..but have you tried utube? Could be bobbin tension.

Do you have a stitch regulator? Press all the connections together, making sure they are tight, even if they look connected. I press mine in on a regulare basis, in case they vibrate loose.
I have also had to press (one time bend) where the encoder wheel meets the track. I was having the same problem it looks like you are having. Good luck.

Change needles often- You may have a defective one!!
Also try taking out all thread and rethreading it

No advice, but good luck fixing it!

Yes, I found the height of the bobbin is critical to the particular model of the machine; it doesn't work just to read that the bobbin may be used for a particular brand sewing machine. If you compare the bobbins, it is easy to see the height of the bobbin is different. I "paid for repair" to learn this valuable lesson. I thought I was also the only one that did not know this.

ALSO...make sure the bobbin thread is going in the correct direction, that is, pulling through the "bobbin tension" from the correct way as directed in your instruction booklet.

All the other responses are to be noted, as well... needle, brand of thread, tensions, etc.
Good Luck.

Sometimes there is dust bunnies under the foot plate and it causes this to happen. Or you might try cleaning the tension disks too.

I have found that when I FMQ, if I angle the quilt just a little so that the machine is not sewing straight backwards, but backwards at a slight angle, the stitches look a lot better, and never skip.
Another thing that will make my machine skip is when the spray adhesive gets into a little ball toward the top of the needle..rub that off if it builds up.
Slow down! you may be going too fast...
As the others have said..rethread, new bobbin, new needle...try different thread...sooner or later you'll hit the right combo! Good luck!

I would say its the needle or bobbin is cracked or scratched in some way, might not be threading right. It just might not like that thread. I have a machine that will not sew with certain thread. So I don't use that thread any more.

You spoke of an encoder. That suggest to me you have a longarm and possibly using it with the computerized portion. My(which is a different brand) but with encoders was skipping because the nut that holds the encoder was loose and it wasn't making good contact with the rail.it skipped stitches mainly when it was making a curve.

My machine did the same thing, here is what I did: I changed back to Signature thread and the problem went away. After I got some exta time I started again with the King TUT and eventually fiddled with the tensions until it did lots better, sooooo, I gave all of my Tut to a friend who's machine handled it better and decided never, never again to believe the hipe about King Tutagain.

When I sew - move the machine backwards. It is a longarm machine. I called the Sewing center where I purchased the machine and they gave me a few helps, but after Hubby and I worked on it - adjusted the timing, adjusted the needle height, cleaned it, oiled it, put in a new needle ... it still skips when it is in the "Cruise" mode. It works great in "Speed" mode but there are times I might want to use cruise and not speed. They also said to totally unplug everything, plug it all back and and see if that works. That will be done this weekend and I will load up another practice quilt to see what is going on. Might even have hubby make a video so I can send it to them before packing up the machine and sending it back for service. It isn't even a month old!
I was able to finish the quilt I had loaded on the frame - just learing how to do pantos and did Chantilly lace. in the body of the quilt and meandering around the boarder. Now to bind it!

Are you using a top stitch needle? The larger eye helps lots. http://www.superiorthreads.com/ there's lots of good info about threads and needles there.

This machine takes a longarn needle and I don't think there is a topstitch needle for the Janome Artistic 18. I could be wrong becasue I am very new to all of this longarm stuff.