wondermom

I'm putting on my first quilt binding ever and its been a doozy. I'm going slowly and carefully, using a walking foot, not tugging or pulling, and my stitches go the correct stitch length for a while and then randomly doing a teeny-tiny stitch length. Any ideas what is going on? Should I rip this out and start again?
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linda8450

Don't know how to solve the problem but can share some thoughts. Do a trial sandwich after trouble shooting, and if you can get uniform stitches, Then think about tearing it out. It is stitched down, very well in fact, so it isn't going to fall apart! Will be a hard rip out it you can't stitch it correctly to suit you. You could hand stitch it down. For me, if it isn't a gift or show quilt, I would leave it. But do trouble shoot. In my experience I had drag and it wasn't feeding freely.

MadQuilter

I would not take it out. It looks like your stitch length was too small. Next time, try lengthening it (I use 2.5 or even 3mm). It may also be too much pressure on the foot. See if you can loosen the tension on the foot (some machines have that feature).

PaperPrincess

Are you sure that there's no tugging or pulling? Often, when the stitch length gets small, it's because the quilt is caught up somewhere. Even with a walking foot, your machine can't pull the entire quilt thru all by itself. You need to make sure that the section just stitched, and the next section to be stitched is loose. Stitch a section, maybe 6 inches or so. Stop adjust the bulk, then do the next section. As far as what to do about the finished portion, I think it's just fine as it is!

Tartan

Tiny stitches can be caused by quilt drag or not having the walking foot arm over the needle bar. I will be hard to remove the tiny stitches so if you can live with them, I would just do better on your next quilt binding.

Garden Gnome

I have a generic walking foot. My walking foot bar (arm) would stick in the "up" position, thus not allowing the fabric to advance, making tiny stitches. Didn't happen all the time, so was not predictable. My "fix" was to use a tiny rubber washer to wrap around the end of the bar and the screw it lies against. So that when the post moved up and down, so did the walking foot. Problem solved.

ArlaJo

Looks like mine do when the quilt gets caught on the table and it pulls. I never take them out just try to be more careful.

Rhonda K

Watch the quilt as it comes out the behind the WF. Make sure the area is clear behind your machine. If the quilted area bunches up behind the WF it will shorten the stitch.

What stitch length did you set on your machine? I also use 2.5 and sometimes a bump to 3.0 if needed.

Jingle

Check to see if threaded correctly. Take out needle, if no burs on needle, rethread, see what happens

Kitsie

I recently had the same problem. Cleaning the feed dogs and lowering the upper tension solved it for me. Good luck!