The Upholstery Forum

We have two Juki DNA 241's that we use for our bagmaking business and mostly sew CORDURA in multiple layers with no problems. When I use them for vinyl they are great until I get to really thick areas. When I sew two panels together they are fine, but when adding welt cord to the mix I get some random skip stitches. I'm considering selling one of the jukis if necessary and replacing in with a 1541, although I'd rather make adjustments to these machines so they stop skipping. What can I do to remedy this? Thanks.

@B + M
I don't think your problem is a "Juki" issue. My machine, not a juki, will skip some too sewing multiple layers of vinyl plus cording. I have found if you press the material down and compress it as much as you can as it goes under the foot the skipping goes away. The thread is being pulled very tightly against the needle when the material is that thick so it can't make a good loop for the hook to catch therefore it skips it. There may be other ways to compensate but I found just compressing it at the foot solved my issues.

@Bondo497 Thanks! Im pretty sure I've been overthinking this.I've been wondering if adjusting pressure on the presser foot would help but haven't tried it. I'll sew some stuff later and try compressing the fabric as well as adjusting the presser foot. Thanks so much

@B + M
I haven't tried adjusting the pressure on the foot, I've just been mashing the material down as it enters the foot. Skipped stiches only happen to me when I am using a welting foot and sewining 4 layers of Naugahyde. Is that true with you?

@Bondo497
Yes that's exactly what's happening here. I'm in the shop now, getting ready to do some sewing, hopefully I can get it figured out.

@B + M
Ok try going slow also and see if your issue goes away.

@Bondo497
Seems I may have been using the wrong size welt foot. I have been using 4/32" cord and 1/4" foot, not sure why I was doing that? I switched to a 3/16" foot and did a bunch of sewing with no skipping. I tried hard to make it skip, four layers, six layers, holding fabric down tight, not holding fabric down, sewing fast and sewing slow. No problems today! Thanks for your help!

@B + M
No problem and thanks for the info on the wrong size foot, I'm using an odd size cording with biggest foot I have that may not be big enough and that's probably my issue as well.