Seam Puckering When Sewing – Top 10 Tips for Smooth Seams

If your machine is causing seam puckering on your precious fabric you are going to be very unimpressed. Sewing with stretch and soft silky fabrics needs a bit of extra time and patience. You are going to need the co-operation of your trusty machine. It is a good idea to go through the checklist below before you blame your machine completely for the seam puckering.

HOW TO STOP SEAM PUCKERING WHEN SEWING

Sew…What can you do?

1. Make sure you are letting the fabric glide through the machine and are not pushing or pulling.
2. Re-thread your machine and make sure the thread clicks in the tension wheels.
3. Re-thread your bobbin.
4. Check your tension dials and adjust slowly as you try to get the tension right.
5. Is the needle type right for this fabric? Different types of needles suit different weights of fabric. Wrinkles caused in knit fabrics can be solved by using a stretch needle. (Read guide to needle sizes and types)
6. Is the needle the right size for the fabric? Ensure your fabric and the needle size match. Practice getting the right one for your fabric before you ruin a seam and have to unpick. Unpicking causes holes in delicate fabrics.
7. Use basting stitches to secure the seam. The basting thread will help hold the material as you sew and prevent it from slipping and causing wrinkles. (Read how to baste before sewing)
8. Try using a very small zigzag stitch to get away from straight stitches that tend to pull and wrinkle. This works especially well for stretch fabrics.
9. Check the throat plate of your machine. Small nicks can affect the tension and cause fabrics to wrinkle.
10. Choose a different fabric for your project. While this does seem a little extreme, I have come across the occasional fabric that is my machine’s worst enemy. Luckily it doesn’t happen very often! If your machine sews other fabrics without wrinkling and this one still wrinkles no matter what you do, then consider it a sprinkle of bad luck and choose another fabric. Some fabrics are just not worth the frustration.

Most of all ‘Keep calm and carry on sewing’ while you check the list of possible problems to your seam puckering. Where there’s a wrinkle there’s a way especially if you take it easy and persevere.

READ MORE IN MY TROUBLESHOOTING SERIES

• Help my sewing needle keeps breaking 
• How to clean a sewing machine
• Sewing Machine Thread Keeps Breaking – Top 10 TIPS
• Sewing Machine Skipping Stitches
• Seam Puckering when Sewing
• Sewing Machine Manuals– Replacement manuals