help me fix my sewing machine

[mamaofprincesses]

I have a New Home sewing machine I've having trouble with. I lent it to my sister for a long time, and recently got it back. She forgot to bring the manual, though, and it's sewing funny. When i sew a seam, one side of it is all loose - not nice, tight, even stitches. Probably the tension, right? Only I don't know how to adjust it! What's a normal tension setting? Other ideas?

Thanks ladies!

[orangefoot]

You are right it probably is the tension but also make sure you have threaded the machine property passing the thread through al the loops and discs that it should go through. Also check that your bobbin is threaded correctly and engaged properly.

You can check the tension quite easily:
There is a dial above where the thread goes down to the needle, adjust your dial to 4 and sew a little bit... see how it looks then move the dial up to 5 or 6 and see what happens. Go back to 4 and down to 3 and 2 to see what happens there too. Hopefully somewhere between 3 and 5 you should have a good even stitch.

If the tension is too loose, too much thread goes down into the fabric and you will have loops and mess on the underside of the fabric. If it is too tight not enough thread will go down to make a good link with the bobbin thread and the fabric will pucker or the top thread will break.

If you google a bit you will find some pictures.