4 Reasons You're Getting Skipped Stitches (and how to fix it) 

I’ve been altering my clothes/doing small projects since around 2010. I even took a sewing class in high school, and no one ever taught me how to troubleshoot skipped stitches. I thought it was just my sewing machine’s quirk that I had to live with. I swapped the needle to a denim needle, rethreaded my machine and it worked perfectly over thick jean fabric!!! Thank you so much!!!

Great advice thanks! Yes, I'm big on using new needles now! My last skipped stitch issue, however, was caused by years of gunk built up in the hook race on my vintage Elna Supermatic. The bobbin case needs room to jiggle a little to work properly and the gunk was preventing this. After giving it a thorough clean it now works like new again, making perfect fashion cam stitches even at full speed!

I had a heck of a time with some four way stretch material I was gifted. I had to go from a ball point needle to a 70/11 stretch need,e, I had to change from a regular zigzag stitch to the lightening bolt stretch stitch, and I had to adjust my length, width and tension and finally got it to stop skipping stitches on this particular material. It was a process, but I am keeping a notebook with my troubleshooting results, and this video helped me tremendously! Thank You!

Thanks for your video! I have been struggling with skipped stitches when sewing knits and athletic materials. FYI for others… if the 4 tips Carmen provided don’t solve the problem, it is likely because the 2 pieces of fabric you are sewing together do not evenly feed through the machine. Ie. they don’t slide through together because they are slippery. A good walking foot will definitely help in this case. Also, I have found that sewing over another seam can cause skipped stitches. This is because the sewing foot has to tilt up and then down to get over the hump. Lift your presser foot, place an object under the back of the needle to lift it up and make it level, then lower the presser foot and proceed slowly. This should solve the issue. There are gizmos out there for this purpose but I just sewed together a small square pad made of a few layers of denim which works well. I hope this advise helps others.

Absolutely amazing. I’ve changed the needle and it cured the problem! I was really worried how I could solve this. Thanks to you I can resume my project. Many thanks for your wisdom. 👍🏽❤️🙏🏼

Thank you so much for these tips. I was having an issue with skipped stitches on a stretch fabric and I had forgotten to put in a ball point needle...It worked. Stitches are straight and even. Well done you.

Thank you Carmen! I was cheap thread all along. I spent hours troubleshooting before I found your video.

Perfect advise! I tend to recycle needles and thought my needle was perfectly fine but apparently it wasn’t. Put in a new needle and voila! it worked perfectly! Thank you!

I just watch your video a year after u post it. I just love everything about u, your looks d way u speak. I guess u are a genuine lady inside outside. Thank u for your time & God bless u for d post

Thank you So much! I was So frustrated but I changed needle and thread , rethreaded it all and it’s perfect again! Blessings on you for sharing your knowledge. 💕

Thank you soo much. I serviced my machine and still battled the entire morning in trying to trouble shoot why stitches where skipping. When I changed my needle; my problem was solved

Thank you very much for this video. It was very helpful.

Your tutorial has really helped me so so much!!! Best video ever!

Thank you Carmen. I searched RU-vid for a while. I’m looking for the cause of my skipped stitches. I have a new type of a shirt for work and it’s really stretchy. It’s a polyester and spandex blend. I tried rethreading my machine , I tried, adjusting the tension, the width of the stitch the length of the stitch. Finally, I changed the needle for a sharper one. Still nothing worked. Thinking it might be a problem with the material. I tried to make some stitches with my cotton material and my machine works phone. There’s nothing wrong with my machine. It’s obviously the needle and the material. Tomorrow I go to buy a stretch needle and I hope and pray I can fix my shirt and not have to take it to a tailor.

Great tutorial! Thank you so much! 😁

Wonderfully helpful, thank you very much 🙂

You remind me of Pam from the office- in a good way! i mean this as a compliment :)

Thanks! I switched needles and it fixed it instantly!!!🎉

Thank you! This helped!

Thank you!🙂

Thank you. I was getting so frustrated!

Thanks, I'm going to try all these things!

What a pretty sewist 🌺

Hi, thank you for the vid, which is really informative and nicely explained. I shall come back to you if your suggestions didnt help me to solve the skipping stitches problem. Many thanks n best wishes.

Omg it was the thread! Thank you soooo much!

Thank you, I will tries these to see if any of these helps.

Thank you🌻

Great advise

I also have gotten skipped stitches from improper presser foot tension, sewing damp fabric...(steam), and gunk under the needle plate or in Bobbin case.

Very helpful TY

Thank you sooooo much!!

Thanks for u have helped me.

I just realized, this is why threading that last point before the needle so you keep the thread as vertical as possible, so when thread comes through fabric it doesnt point or pull anything but straight down and conforms into the needle groove. So when needle is on the way up a the hook can catch the thread and close the loop.

Thank you, this video was so helpful!

It was the needle. Thank you so much!

Hi Carmen, you are very sweet to offer extra help for those who are lost! I switched out my needle and I am switching out the thread, And whatever it is is fixed, thank you so much! My question is I don’t even know what needle goes to work because they are not labeled so once the package is gone how do we know what the gold tip is in the red tip and the silver tip and so on?

This video really helped me, thanks 🙏

Do you have a video on how to fix stitches when using a machine with built in stitches? Ill have to check on the availability of those needle types here. Thanks

Thank you! I was using the wrong type of needle

can you show us how to do bias binding with the material we use es especially stretch material

Any suggestions? I am trying to do zigzag, and it looks like a ladder stich on the front, and zigzag on the back. I have re-threaded the machine and bobbin, changed tension, and I am not sure how to fix it.

I love your shirt. Which pattern?

I think it my needle, thanks.

When you have the right needle, thread, and threading of the machine and it still doesn’t work 😭 and I even checked the timing of the machine and it still doesn’t work. It works on other fabrics but not my knit fabric and no matter the setting I try it doesn’t work. RIP

I am not getting any stitches from my seeing machine

My needle is skipping seriously

Thanks for this... Just got my machine out after around a year, and it was driving me nuts. Wrong needle! 🤦‍♀️🤣

Humm? Id rather blame the machine. Edit I was correct, these new machines are too fussy. It a Brother 3700 and it drops stitches with the preinstalled needle. So I got the same type needle I use in my old LaSalle that does not care what material Im using, and gave it a try and now it is dropping 90% of the stitches!! Also It does not like to start in reverse, it get a small clump every time. I resolve to tie the threads instead of locking them as I do not want to go forward back forward. Till I learn better. On the old Lasalle I just start in reverse. I really do not like the Brother. It has 37 stitches but not The common edge stitch I like/ my go to stitch. Edit 2 It was the tension. I had it on 7 and it works 99% better on 1!!?? The factory need worked better then bigger and smaller ones. Edit 3 No now I need the tension, this machine just sucks. I just got my rubbished Singer today and its 10 times better. Its not fussy and does not skip. i got the brother for my child because it is pretty but it just feels sloppy and fragile compared to my other machines.

Nothing nothing useful