Why Does My Sewing Needle Keep Breaking?

When your needle breaks in the middle of a sewing job, it can be very frustrating. This may cause you to reschedule your completion date and increase your expenses for replacing the needle. You will still need to figure out why the needle broke and how to keep it from happening in the future.

There are a number of potential causes for a broken sewing machine needle. Determining the cause may be the most aggravating aspect because there isn’t a simple solution to stop it from happening again.

Why then does your sewing needle break so frequently? There could be a threading issue, improper needle installation, or even the use of the wrong attachments. Once the cause of your needle breaking has been identified, you can proceed to work out a solution.

How Do You Stop a Sewing Needle from Breaking?

The best strategy to keep your sewing needle from breaking will depend on what the original cause of the problem is. Incorrect thread insertion is one of the most frequent causes of sewing needle breakage. Sometimes even experienced seamstresses make mistakes when threading, so always double-check this.

You may also be using too much thread tension. various threads and materials require various tensions. The needle’s eye may break if there is an uneven force applied to it. Verify that the tension you are using is appropriate for the material you are dealing with.

It can be the case that the needle you are using is dull or that you are not using the correct needle. Before beginning any job, sewing machine makers advise changing your needle. This will guarantee that the needle you use each time is sharp. Broken dull needles can occur when they catch on the fabric.

It’s also conceivable that the needle is not placed correctly or is inserted in the wrong place, in addition to utilizing an outdated or improper needle. Your needle is held in place by a tiny screw that may gradually come loose. Your needle may break if it strikes the bobbin while it is loose.

If you try to pull the cloth through the machine to aid it, you run the risk of breaking your needle. This may result in the needle being misaligned, breaking when it comes into contact with the throat plate. To prevent this, shorten the stitch to make it simpler for the fabric to pass through the machine.

What Are the Remedies of Needle Breaking?

A few of the most common causes of needle fractures are improper insertion, previously bent needles, and loose clamp screws. Most sewing machines have a fairly similar needle replacement procedure. Lift the needle, release the clamp, and place the fresh needle in.

Make sure you push the new needle up as far as it will go when you insert it. Additionally, you will want a screwdriver to accurately tighten the clamp screw. Make frequent checks to ensure your needle is straight.

An additional frequent problem that leads to sewing needle breakage is excessive machine tension. It can take some effort to get the hang of this, but the solution is rather simple. Use two different colored threads on the top and bottom to check the tension of your thread.

If the tension is excessively tight, you will be able to tell right away because the top thread may show through the cloth, or the bottom thread may show through the fabric. Change the settings until the threads meet in the middle of the fabric if the tension is too tight.

You may be breaking needles because the needle you are using is too thin for the project. For sewing thin textiles, use tiny needles and fine thread. For stitching heavier fabrics, use larger needles and thicker threads. By trying the needle and thread on a scrap piece of cloth before beginning your project, you may prevent this.

Also Read: Can You Knit With Chopsticks?

What Tension Should My Sewing Machine Be on?

Although it may seem difficult at first, setting the proper tension for your sewing machine will be simple once you get the hang of it. It is advantageous for both your project and your sewing machine to have the proper tension on your machine.

The thread, fabric, and stitch you plan to use will all influence the appropriate tension for your sewing machine. Typically, sewing machines feature a tension control with a range of 0 to 9. The 4.5 setting is ideal for most textiles when you want a straight stitch.

However, you should use a little looser tension if you wish to make a wide pattern, such as a zigzag stitch. For thicker stitches, the tension should be kept between 3 and 4. This will make it possible for the machine to feed through more thread, creating a thicker and broader stitch.

Testing it out is the best way to determine if you have the proper tension. Acquire a remnant piece of cloth and two distinct colored threads. You can tell how the tension is on that specific fabric by looking at the thread.

Why Is My Thread Bunching Underneath?

The most annoying thing about sewing is most likely having to cope with bunching thread. The longer you have to sit and dissect the heap of threads that are looped indefinitely, the more annoying it becomes.

The machine was not threaded correctly, which is the main cause of bunching thread. Anyone can occasionally thread their system incorrectly. Make sure your thread is not looping before proceeding. It will be necessary for you to start over from scratch.

An further factor contributing to bunching is very short thread tails. When you start stitching, there’s a good chance the thread tails coming out of the bobbin will get pulled into your sewing machine if they’re shorter than two inches. To see if that helps, try making your tails 4 inches instead.

The bobbin case being overflowing with lint is another significant reason why your thread may be bunching. Lint accumulates within your bobbin case during sewing and can obstruct your needle’s ability to stitch correctly. To keep this from bunching, clean it out often.

Final Thoughts

Dealing with sewing machine needles that break all the time can be annoying. Accidents can also cause breaking, even if user error is a common cause. Although there are steps you can take to keep your needle from breaking, you must first identify the source of the breakage.

Overly tight sewing machine tension is one of the main causes of broken needles. Before beginning a project in its entirety, test the tension if you believe this to be the cause of the issue. This will show you how the tension appears so you can make any necessary adjustments.