So, sometimes you’re sewing and you think everything is going really well, and then you pull your fabric out from behind your machine and you look at it, and the fabric is all puckered. So, let’s talk about a couple things that you can do to troubleshoot that problem. First thing is you want to look at your tension on your thread. If your tension is too high, it might be causing the fabric to bunch up because everything is really tight. So, you might want to try loosening your thread tension so everything is kind of just a little bit more relaxed.
Another thing you should try to check if your fabric is puckering is your needle. If you’re sewing with a dull needle, especially if you are sewing woven fabrics, if the needle is having a hard time puncturing the fabric, that might cause your fabric to pucker. And then the last thing I would say, if you are having a problem with puckering, is to look at the way you are actually maneuvering and handling the fabric in your machine. So, as you are sewing, you want to try your best to let the feed dogs, which are the little teeth that sit on the bottom of your sewing machine, you want to let the feed dogs pull the fabric on its own, at its own pace. A lot of times, new sewers try to either push the fabric through.
Or, sometimes you get this motion where you’re pulling it from behind. You really want to let the feed dogs do all the work and you don’t really want to help the fabric. You just want to guide the fabric so it’s going straight and you’re sewing in a straight line. So, see how you’re sewing and maneuvering the fabric, and hopefully those things will help you fix any of your puckering problems.