Singer 15-91 Tension Trouble while FMQ!
 

I never adjust the settings on my 15-91--found my sweet spot and kept it there, but my sweet little granddaughter decided to play with Memaw's machine. I have adjusted till I'm blue in the face. The bottom looks good, but the top stitches look like a blanket stitch. Does anyone have a clue as to what could be the problem?

Rethread it, new needle, oil it, clean out the bobbin area and see if that helps. Sounds like the top thread is catching somewhere.

She may have 'unwound' the spring on the tension knob. Check to see if the spring still goes up and down like it should... if not, they're cheap and easy to find online. Get a couple to have on hand for the next time she comes over. :D It's an easy fix. It's hard to break a 15-91, the thing is a tank! I love mine!

I love those old Singer 15s and the clones - very often I've had to take the tension apart and put it back together - a good cleaning is helpful. The manual here will help. I enlarged the pictures so I can see it at a glance. http://www.tfsr.org/pub/technical_in...echanism_2.pdf I figure if I can follow a pattern I can rebuild a tension. Take your time and don't lose your screws...

She probably screwed and unscrewed anything she could. Keep on working.LOL

Once you get it rebuilt, you adjust it with the presser foot down. BTW, did she mess with the thumb screw at the top that adjusts the pressure foot pressure? Some have a pop up and if you have it up the machine won't work very well. I'm thinking there should be some on line video's how to adjust the tension. Maybe Muv has one. Check her videos up there on the sticky or go on Utube and look for Muv and Fav's videos.