Stitches

Why does my embroidery machine mess up when I stitch small letters?

I am personalizing a pillow and started the first letter. For some reason the machine jams up everytime I try to make letters. I only have a 4 x 4 space to work with and I have a design and some lettering inside. Could the lettering be too small? Could someone PLEASE HELP!!! I'm getting so frustrated trying to figure out what to do. THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

Public Comments

1. You are not using enough stabilizer. Keep adding stabilizer underneath. Make sure you are using embroidery thread, like sulky. And also use embroidery bobbin thread. Using that thread takes away bulk. Sulky makes a white and black embroidery thread. You do not need to match your bobbin to your upper thread.
2. You don't say how many letters you are trying to put in. Being you field is only a 4x4 with letters inside of it I am guessing they are very small. I would hoop some blank material and just do the letters, if they do fine then you know that it is the design, if they mess up again enlarge them till the embroider correctly and then try them at this size in the design. Marge
3. Clean the bobbin case (remove the throat plate) and surrounding area. Make sure the bobbin is properly wound and is feeding in the right direction and through the correct guides. Thread snips, lint and mis-threading of the bobbin thread can cause knotting and jamming. Test the different sizes of lettering, but I doubt if that is the issue. Try cut away stabilizer. Helpful sites for machine embroiderers - http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/holder.aspx?page=techniques http://www.annaboveembroidery.com/tiformaem.html
4. I have been studying digitizing with Walt Floriani. According to his "rules of measurement" a letter stitched with satin stitch should have a minimum width of 1.2 cms. If your letter is any smaller than that, it should be digitized using a running stitch. If using a running stitch, use a double stitch or a bean stitch for greater definition.
5. I do not know if you have finished your project or not but I had the same problem with very narrow letters. I loosend the tension in my upper thread and used the same thread in my bobbin and they turned out fine. Good luck.