What would make my machine do this?
 

In the last couple of days my machine has decided to skip stitches. It seems to be worst (an inch or so) at the intersection of seams, but occasionally (1 or 2 stitches) in between as well.

I've never had any problems with this machine before.

So all you knowledgable people, what do I need to do?

How long has it been since you changed your needle?

My newer Janome started doing this the manual said change needle, check threading of machine, possible wrong needle for what you are sewing. I tell you I had an old Pfaff (electonic) never once did I ever have this happen but that machine died.

Anyways I put in a new needle and rethreaded and seems to be okay now. Good luck I know how frustrating this can be.

I have this saved in my machine troubleshooting file:

• Skipped stitches are symptomatic of several things, but a bent needle may be the culprit. When the stitches randomly start skipping, change your needle. If the stitches return to normal, then the problem was a bent needle. It can be caused by such things as tugging too hard on the fabric or the needle hitting a pin. Relax your hold on the fabric, and allow the feed dogs to pull it through.

Ditto what BellaBoo said. I also checked my manual (haven't had that problem yet) and it stated the same thing.

My Kenmore would do that, if the bobbin wasn't happy.

I had a Kenmore that did that. Turns out, I wore out the bobbin area and they had to replace it completely. It worked fine after that. IMy Pfaff has never done that.

My machine acted similar to that yesterday. Changed the needle, cleaned, rethreaded, still the same. Changed the needle again - perfect! Guess the other new needle was defective.

clean your machine too, lint in bobbin area can cause stitching problems