The Sewing Place

201K woes

rubywishes

201K woes
« on: August 22, 2020, 06:08:23 AM »
I'm currently trying to sew a flannel rag quilt with my 201. I have a low shank walking foot on it, have lowered my tension and lengthened my stitch length to accommodate the thickness I'm sewing through and sewing at a nice sedate pace. Overrall it is going swimmingly except every 5 or 6 blocks my thread breaks and unthreads back through 3 thread guides right back up to the take up lever. Can anyone help me with this?
Juki TL2010Q, Juki DX7,  Singers: 1917 27K treadle (aka Gertie), 1957 99k (aka Vincent), 1951 99k knee lever (aka Shirley), 1950 99k handcrank (aka Alice), 1927 28K (aka Dora), 1947 201K treadle with motor conversion (aka Livvy)
....and the dusting and vacuming can wait!

BrendaP

Re: 201K woes
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2020, 08:18:08 AM »
What thread are you using?  Cotton will snap easier than poly.

Does it occasionally catch on the reel or the spool pin?  That would be enough to make it jamb and then snap. 
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

rubywishes

Re: 201K woes
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2020, 09:56:10 AM »
Thanks for the response @BrendaP ,  I'm using Gutterman 50wt. I think I have sorted out the problem; I have the top tension set quite low/loose and the stitch lengthened to allow for ease of sewing through the thickness of flannel and batting. Could the thread jumping out of the lower/last 2 thread guides cause the thread to then jerk out of the needle eye? I noticed a few times that the thread was jumping out of the guides. Perhaps there were times I wasn't noticing this and that's when the needle became unthreaded?
I have since lowered the tension more.....almost to 1 and the thread is staying in the guides now and I haven't had the problem recur.
Juki TL2010Q, Juki DX7,  Singers: 1917 27K treadle (aka Gertie), 1957 99k (aka Vincent), 1951 99k knee lever (aka Shirley), 1950 99k handcrank (aka Alice), 1927 28K (aka Dora), 1947 201K treadle with motor conversion (aka Livvy)
....and the dusting and vacuming can wait!

BrendaP

Re: 201K woes
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2020, 16:27:20 PM »
Thread might ping out of the guides, but unless it actually snaps it can't come out of the needle, other than at the beginning if the tail is too short.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.