Sewing question

I never change tension, even when sewing on webbing.  But I check it to make sure.  Occasionally I screw up something, like feeding the thread through the machine wrong.

Sometimes when I go over a piece of webbing the stitch length will vary.  Oh well.  The first row of stitches is trickier because I have to position the webbing, but after it’s sewn into place, another row of stitches at normal speed will turn out better.

As far a tension, as long as the connecting threads are inside the fabric/web you should be good to go.

That makes sense, just having the thread connection inside the fabric/webbing.

Doug, there are a number of good videos on Youtube regarding tension. I don’t often change my tension, but it’s good to know what’s going on and why I might need to at some point. Regarding smoothly riding the presser foot up, I use a piece of thicker material to smooth out any large transitions in thickness. However, I was recently turned on to something called the Dritz Jean-A-Ma-Jig. I don’t own one yet, but I can see it being useful at some point.

Paul—I like your idea of using thicker material to smooth out transitions. That Jean-A-M-Jig looks to be very specialized. Good for a jeans seam but not so much for 3/4″ webbing.

(Off topic: about four days till my new-to-me Singer 403a arrives. I’m excited to see how it handles webbing and such—after I get it up and running properly.)

I change the top tension all the time, using a test piece of fabric. I never touch the bottom tension. Getting the presser foot over webbing can be a bit tricky. What I often do is stop just short of the webbing. I then gently lift up the presser foot front and slide the edge of the webbing underneath. I then hand crank it a few times and then sew as normal. If you’re really good, you can do this without even stopping sewing. The other thing that really helps is having a straight stitch foot and plate. Fewer things to get caught up on.

Adam G—Great tip on getting onto the webbing.