I just purchased a walking foot and installed it on my Brother machine. I am doing some top stitching on a pot holder just around the edges where I turned under the edges. I used the zig zag stitch and found that it skips every once in awhile.

It does the zig but not the zag and then goes on to the next one. I can see a little needle hole where the thread should be but it isn't there. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

Other times when I've used the zig zag stitch I've had the same problem, and I wasn't using a walking foot at the time. So, I don't think it is the walking foot causing the problem.

Is this normal? I would like it to look perfect.


Any suggestions?

Clean the bobbin area? Change the needle? :D:D:D

Sorry. But good luck!

I've never used a zig-zag with my walking foot. Hmmmm.....

Stitches other than a straight stitch are not recommended for walking feet. The top fabric will move more than the bottom fabric, as the walking foot moves the same distance each time the needle goes up and down. And going backwards could destroy your walking foot. So, please don't try to sew backwards with it in place.

Thanks. I'm not doing a stitch that goes backwards.

According to the instructions that came with the walking foot it says you can do a zig zag stitch with it.

Thanks for the advise. I took it and cleaned the bobbin area. Then I tried another little sample piece using the same thickness of fabric. It still did it. So, as soon as I get a chance, (I'm fixing dinner) I'll change the needle and see if that helps.

Well, I changed the needle and I still got the same undesirable results. So, the next thing I tried was to adjust the tension. It was on 4 so I tried about 3.5 and the problem got worse.
Then I tried it about 4.5 and my stitches came out a lot better.
Also, I changed the kind of thread I was using. I think that made a big difference too. Now it looks great!

Thanks all for your help and suggestions. You're the best! :thumbup:

By the way, the kind of walking foot I got is an "open toe" walking foot. I think that is why it is okay to do zig zag. :-)

It's fine to use a zig-zag stitch for an even feed foot as long as the foot is made for zig-zag.

You only need to avoid the decorative stitches that stitch forward and backward - the even feed foot won't coordinate with the feed dogs on the machine and the stitching might not look very good.

If you're using a universal needle, switch to a sharp and make sure that the needle is sized correctly for the thread that you're using. Universal needles cause a lot of skipped stitches.

If the needle is too big, it won't allow the friction necessary to create a loop for the hook to catch, so you'll get lots of skipped stitches.

If the needle is too small, it will hold the thread too tightly to create a large enough loop for the hook to catch - although you would usually see shredded thread in this case, too.

One size of needle that can work just fine when you're doing a straight stitch will suddenly be too large or small for the thread when you switch to the zig-zag stitch. The hook will be passing the back of the needle at a different place in the timing, so the thread loop has to be just the right size and in just the right place. Too small or too late and the hook skips.