The Problem of Sewing Adhesive
Technician Tips
The Problem of Sewing Adhesive
How sewing adhesive and other sticky substances interfere with loop creation and cause poor stitch quality.
Sewing adhesive has inherent problems: it can hurt your sewing machine and negatively affect stitch quality.
If the fabric you’re sewing is coated in excessive adhesive, there’s a strong possibility the adhesive will stick to the needle shaft when the needle pierces the fabric. That interferes with proper loop creation, which in turn interferes with proper stitch formation.
Why it causes skipped stitches
The thread loop forms above the needle eye, and the sewing hook passes through that loop. If the needle shaft is sticky, the thread can get stuck to it, distorting the loop or preventing it from forming at all. Skipped stitches happen whenever the hook doesn’t pass through the loop, so the likelihood of skipped stitches skyrockets.
Adhesive on the needle shaft disrupting the thread loop.
From a sewing machine technician’s perspective, excessive adhesive often leads to skipped stitches. That doesn’t mean you can never use adhesive. You can, but I highly recommend using the least amount of adhesive possible for your project.
Miscellaneous Notes on Adhesive & Sewing
From the repair bench
- Two adhesive brands I like are 505 Temporary Adhesive and Spray-n-Bond Basting Adhesive. Both do a good job of not gumming up the needle.
- Velcro contains adhesive. If you sew Velcro, there’s a good chance the needle gets sticky, so be prepared to change your needle more often than usual to finish the project.
- If you’ve been using adhesive and get skipped stitches, try changing the needle. Sometimes a fresh needle that isn’t coated in adhesive solves the problem.
- If way, way, wayyyyyy too much adhesive is used, it can coat the bobbin case and/or sewing hook. This is not good. Stitch quality will suffer and changing the needle won’t help. You’ll likely need a technician who can access the entire hook area to clean it properly.
- Needle manufacturers like Schmetz make a Super NonStick needle: essentially a Universal needle with an anti-adhesive (NIT) coating that resists sticky stabilizers, fusibles, and adhesives. They aren’t guaranteed to be 100% effective, but they’re better than generic needles when sewing with adhesive.
Sewing with adhesive
Summary
- Adhesive interferes with proper loop creation, which interferes with stitch formation and often causes skipped stitches.
- If you’ve been using adhesive and get skipped stitches, try changing the needle. A fresh needle that isn’t coated in adhesive will sometimes solve the problem.
- If far too much adhesive is used, it can coat the bobbin case and/or sewing hook. That may require a trained technician to take the machine apart and clean the affected areas properly.
Also part of the skipped stitches flow chartSkipped Stitches Troubleshooting Flow Chart
Adhesive down in the hook?
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