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The feed dogs are only coming up part way, or it seems they are still moving up and down, but the fabric only moves very slightly along, even after turning the machine on and off. I have to pull the fabric through myself to get it to sew a complete seam.
PS this is for a Bernina 135
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The needle never moves forward/back on its own for most sewing machines. The needle bar goes up and down. The fabric moves due to the action of the feed dogs. First remove the fabric from under the presser foot. Check for tangled thread wrapped around the feed dogs or fabric/thread going down into the bobbin area in a tangle. Next check if the feed dogs are up. (When the feed dogs are down or covered (on some machines), the machine is in darning mode. The fabric will only move if you move it yourself.) With the fabric out of the way, rotate the hand wheel and check if the feed dogs are moving. Open up the bobbin compartment and clean out any lint, thread or other debris that may be tangling the mechanism. Take off the throat plate and check the feed dogs. A damaged throat plate can stop the feed dogs from moving properly. You may need to replace the throat plate.
For some machines, you may need to make sure that the unit is not in bobbin wind mode. This is usually obvious since the needle bar won't move either.
Is the feed dog raised into sewing position and not dropped as for darning? Feed dogs need to be in the raised position in order to pull the fabric through the machine.
If the stitch length is set too short, it will cause the fabric to barely move thereby causing the machine to stitch in one place.
Raise your presser foot and gently rotate the handwheel and watch the feed dogs. Do they rise when coming to the front of the machine, move toward the back of the machine, drop down below the needle plate, and move forward to the front of the machine again? If so, the feed dogs are working properly.
If the feed dogs never rise, they are in the dropped position for darning or free motion quilting when you would move the fabric manually.
If, on the other hand, the feed dogs do not move at all, then they are seized and you should probably get your machine serviced.
First, make sure the feed dogs are in the up position and NOT dropped for darning.
Second, check that the stitch length is set to at least a 2 or 2.5 to make sure the feed dogs will actually move the fabric a noticeable distance. The closer the stitch length is set to zero, the closer together the stitches will be until it will sew only in one place because the fabric will no longer advance.
The feed dogs need to move. They should actually rise, move toward the back of the machine, drop down, move forward to the position to again rise--this creates one stitch. If the fabric is not moving, then it is possible that your machine has not been cleaned and oiled recently. Old oil will dry and cause the moving parts to seize.
the feed dogs are what move the fabric thru the machine to sew it if the feed dogs are not working, then they need to be checked to see if they have some loose or broken or need to be retimed
when the fabric does not move then the feed dogs under the needle plate need to be checked to see if there up or down.
if the feed dogs are down then the lever or switch needs to be pushed up into the correct position
if the feed dogs are up & they are not moving the fabric like there suppose to, cause it's there job to move the fabric against the presser foot,, then they need to be check
the gears that do the zig zag stitches should be checked to make sure there not worn & weather they might need be be greased
Check to see what pattern is selected. Be sure it isn't the buttonhole.Select straight stitch.Move the stitch length setting to 4.Turn the handwheel and see if the feed dogs move forward. Press the reverse lever and see if they move backwards. Select straight stretch stitch and turn the wheel to see if the feed dogs move forward and backward.Check the presser foot release on top of the machine and make sure there is pressure on the foot. Sometimes the reverse assembly on this machine stops working because it has the wrong type of grease on it and it turns into a hard gummy mess that won't let it work. sewman7
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