22
STITCHES ARE
SKIPPING
Troubleshooting
• Replace the needle often, normally once or twice per day for
continuous quilting or at least once per quilt. Use only needles
authorized by Baby Lock.
• Always change the needle if the needle has struck any hard object
such as a straight pin, etc. The tip of the needle can become damaged
or burred, resulting in fabric damaged as well as skipped stitches and
thread breakage.
• Always change the needle if it has been hit, bumped or pulled off
center while maneuvering the machine about the quilt. A slightly
bent needle can be a major cause of skipped stitches.
• Check for the proper size of needle for the work and thread being
applied to the quilting operation. Some battings and fabrics used
in quilting may constrict or impede the thread passing through the
front groove of the needle. This diminishes the loop lift required for
stitch formation. Typically, a larger needle will solve the problem;
however, it has been found that certain smaller sizes of needles as
well as the use of ball pointed needles solve some specific problems.
• Position the needle properly to the needle bar. Inspect the position
of the needle to make sure that the needle is at the 6 o’clock position.
If you stand directly in front of the needle (facing the bobbin case
side of the machine), you will see the entire needle eye directly
facing you. This is 6 o’clock position. For most needle and thread
combinations this is the correct position. However, if you find your
thread is shredding, you might try positioning the needle to 5 o’clock.
If it is skipping stitches, try rotating the needle eye to 7 o’clock.
• 7 o’clock is the maximum tolerance for rotation. Make sure the
needle is installed all the way into the needle bar to the needle stop
hole in the needle bar and the long groove is toward the front (bobbin
case side) and the scarf/scooped out part is toward the handwheel.
• Loosen fabric on the frame. Fabric that is rolled too tight causes
the fibers to separate. This reduces the needle friction on the thread
resulting in a smaller thread loop and may cause skipped stitches.
• Loosen upper tension.
• Inspect that the thread take-up lever, thread stirrup or tension
spring are all threaded correctly and that the thread is “flossed” into
the tension discs.
Problem
Cause
Correction
The needle is
damaged, dull, bent, or
installed improperly
Incorrect needle size
The needle has not
been positioned
properly
Fabric is too tight on
the frame
Upper tension too tight
Improper threading
