Johnson Ruffling Machine giving me tension fits
 

This is the machine, not the attachment. They were created from the old Singer 15s. I just can't get it to keep a proper tension. The top thread just lies flat and I can see the bobbin loops on the top of the fabric. I've loosened the tension and tightened the tension on the machine with the same results. Haven't tried the bobbin tension yet. Frustrating. Any thoughts? I'm somewhat new to sewing, so don't be afraid to insult me with the basics ;)

Are you sure it is threaded correctly? The thread needs to go between the discs, which hopefully are in the correct position to start with. I don't remember off the top of my head, but the check spring needs to be in the proper position and threaded correctly.


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

Be very careful with bobbin tension - it is a very small screw and easily lost. While you should be tightening it, sometimes things happen. A very strong magnet extremely close helps. Here again make sure it is threaded correctly, under the spring.


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

I brought up my bobbin case for the 15 downstairs I bought new, and sure enough, that solved the tension issues! I'll play around with the original case. Good tip on the magnet!!

Good to hear things are working out. You might need to take off the spring in the old bobbin case, there's two screws there, make sure you don't loose them. Have a tea towel on the table your work or something like that to prevent it from falling on the floor. The outer screw should be tight, the second screw is the tension adustment. Do a drop test with the thread you most commonly use, and fine tune from there. There's also the 1 oz rice bag drop test.

Thank you. I bought one of those bobbin tension gauges from the Featherweight Shop as I was putting in an order anyway. My husband likes toys and I can easily get him to test for me with this.

Glad you got things figured out - and I'd love to see a picture of your machine - it sounds really neat!

This is it! It's really cool but if I don't use it enough, might end up re-selling:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]605329[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]605330[/ATTACH]

It looks very nice. I have unfortunately never needed a ruffle, but I have played around with the ruffle attachments that came with my Singers. You might need some ruffles for curtains or blouses in the future.

Thank you Cari! I figured it was one or the other. Can I ask you how you identified it as I'm still learning