Sewing machine help please!

[thesearetherichesofthepoor]

Hi all

I have a singer tradition. It's good enough got most things I make (scrunchies, headbands, wands etc) but it's being a complete ass with anything slightly bulkier than cotton and keeps jamming.

Do I need a better machine? A needle change to a different number? I've snapped 3 needles today 🤦‍♀️

I'm adding bow ties and hair clips bows to my Etsy shop but the bulkier ones just won't sew

Any advice greatly appreciated. Only started sewing in august.

I am not familiar with your machine. But heavier fabrics will require a thicker needle and try a longer stitch length. If the machine is struggling to start the seam turn the wheel by hand to make the first couple of stitches. Some machines have the facility to increase the foot pressure for thicker fabrics. Lastly if the machine is struggling to sew over seams which are intersecting so the foot is rising up use a bit of scrap fabric folded over and place under the foot at the back. The foot will then be level and the machine will sew over the seam.

Have you tried looking inside the spool holder? Take it all out and give it a good clean
I had a needle tip stuck in mine

Does OP need a walking foot? I would use one for anything but light fabrics.

OP... just get a new machine! I faffed around so much with my old machine... Thread breaking, jammed up etc etc... Only realised how bad it was when I got a new one... If you can afford it I would...

I've got a Singer machine which is similar to yours. It's great for light sewing but because the machine itself is so lightweight (it's about 99% plastic) it hasn't got much oomph. I'm thinking of trading up to a better and weightier machine. If you don't want to do that (or even in the interim, if you do) follow commontern's good advice above. And as well as making sure that your needle's the right size, make sure it's new - blunt needles always struggle.

I really don't think the cheaper Singers have the best reputation, but there are quite a few things you can try when it's all going wrong - a few have been mentioned already:
Use a walking foot
Replace the needle
Use a thicker needle - 80 or 90 (70 is my standard for quilt-weight cotton)
Clean the inside of the machine, remove all the fluff
Change the tension - can never remember if it needs to go higher or lower for thicker materials though
Use top-quality thread, makes a huge difference. My Brother really loves Gütermann, for example, but other brands have different preferences
Don't sew at the machine's maximum speed