needle moving when quilting
 

Hi all, I am quilting my first big quilt on my new machine, and I noticed something today that is making me scratch my head a little.

When I put my needle down and raise the presser foot to pivot the sandwich around the needle, if I'm not very very careful about how much weight and pressure is on the needle, it will move from side to side like it does when I change the needle position. It doesn't actually make the noises it does when I press the buttons to change the needle, and when I start sewing again it goes back to where I had it set. Once raised out of the fabric, I can continue to adjust the needle position as always.

Is this something I need to be worried about? My old machine only had one needle position, and the needle would break before it would move laterally. Is there something broken in this new machine, or are they all like that now?

I think i would be concerned about that if i saw it on my machine too! What kind of machine is it - and can you call or email your dealer to report your observation? I would be worried that somehow the needle would free itself and end up where you dont want it to be!

Mine does the same thing, and always has. I have a Singer, about 14 yrs old. I try to be as gentle as I can when moving the fabric around with the needle down. When I have it like I want it, I put the presser foot down, raise the needle by hand, it resets itself back to its original position (which is right where it needs to be usually) and then I continue sewing. It’s not been much of a bother once I figured out a way to deal with it that works for me and my machine. If it worries you though, I’d call somebody with knowledge of your machine.

Not knowing what machine/needle plate you have, it is definitely possible (and will happen) that if you are using a zig-zag plate rather than a straight stitch (single hole) one, and you raise the foot with the needle still down, you can cause needle deflection when moving the fabric. Think about it - the needle is held by the needle bar at the top, but there is only the needle plate at the bottom to keep it aligned vertically. If that needle plate is a zig-zag one, you have the width of the slot in the needle plate that the needle can be pulled out of vertical if the fabric is pulled.

Thank you, this is a modern singer machine, the confidence quilter. I have had it for almost six months and haven't had any problems with it, but this is the first time I have quilted anything bigger than a lap quilt on it. The only thing I don't like about it so far is the small harp space. It is due for a cleaning at the end of the year, I will ask about it when I take it in.

Any tug on the thread the needle mechanism goes side to side shows a delicate part on most machines. The needle should bend, the mechanism shouldn't move with a little pressure.

I know this is an older post, but I'm curious if you got it worked out. I downloaded the manual for the Singer 7469 and 7469Q machines. I noticed that you original said "I put my needle down" which I take it to mean that you turned the hand wheel to place the needle in the fabric and then raised the presser foot. It appears (on page 32 ) that there is "Needle Stop Position Selector Switch" which can stop the machine in the needle up or needle down position. I think that if you select the needle down position that it would not move side to side.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Upon further research there were several Confidence machines. After a quick look at the various Confidence manuals, it looks like that only the 7363 does not have a needle down position.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.