• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Howcast

Howcast

The best source for fun, free, and useful how-to videos and guides.

  • Arts & Crafts
  • Entertainment
  • Food & Drink
  • Health
  • Home & Garden
  • Relationships
  • Explore Guides
  • Contact
  • About
  • FAQs
  • Explore Guides
  • Arts & Crafts
  • Entertainment
  • Food & Drink
  • Health & Wellness
  • Love & Relationships
  • Home & Garden
Arts & CraftsHow to Use a Sewing Machine

How to Prevent Your Sewing Machine from Puckering Fabric

Transcript

Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today we are going to talk about fabric puckering. So, sometimes you’re sewing and you think everything is going really well, and then you pull your fabric out from behind your machine and you look at it, and the fabric is all puckered.

So, let’s talk about a couple things that you can do to troubleshoot that problem. First thing is you want to look at your tension on your thread. If your tension is too high, it might be causing the fabric to bunch up because everything is really tight. So, you might want to try loosening your thread tension so everything is kind of just a little bit more relaxed.

Another thing you should try to check if your fabric is puckering is your needle. If you’re sewing with a dull needle, especially if you are sewing woven fabrics, if the needle is having a hard time puncturing the fabric, that might cause your fabric to pucker.

And then the last thing I would say, if you are having a problem with puckering, is to look at the way you are actually maneuvering and handling the fabric in your machine. So, as you are sewing, you want to try your best to let the feed dogs, which are the little teeth that sit on the bottom of your sewing machine, you want to let the feed dogs pull the fabric on its own, at its own pace.

A lot of times, new sewers try to either push the fabric through. Or, sometimes you get this motion where you’re pulling it from behind. You really want to let the feed dogs do all the work and you don’t really want to help the fabric. You just want to guide the fabric so it’s going straight and you’re sewing in a straight line. So, see how you’re sewing and maneuvering the fabric, and hopefully those things will help you fix any of your puckering problems.


Lessons in this Guide

How to Sew an Invisible Zipper with a Sewing Machine

How to Sew a Lapped Zipper with a Sewing Machine

How to Sew a Centered Zipper with a Sewing Machine

How to Use a Sewing Machine with Jennifer Wiese

How to Apply Bias Tape to Fabric

How to Make Bias Tape

How to Prevent Your Sewing Machine from Puckering Fabric

Why Does My Sewing Machine Top Thread Keep Breaking?

How to Fix a Thread Jam in a Sewing Machine

How to Troubleshoot Bobbin Problems

How to Pick a Sewing Machine

How to Stitch in the Ditch with a Sewing Machine

How to Use a Double Needle on a Sewing Machine

How to Gather Fabric with a Sewing Machine

How to Sew a Bound Seam with a Sewing Machine

How to Sew a Flat Felled Seam with a Sewing Machine

How to Sew a French Seam with a Sewing Machine

How to Make a Double-Fold Hem with a Sewing Machine

How to Make a Narrow Hem with a Sewing Machine

How to Prepare to Sew Invisible Zipper on a Sewing Machine

How to Prepare to Sew a Lapped Zipper with a Sewing Machine

How to Prepare to Sew a Centered Zipper on a Sewing Machine

How to Use a Blind Hem Foot Attachment on a Sewing Machine

How to Use a Buttonholer Attachment on a Sewing Machine

How to Use a Walking Foot Attachment on a Sewing Machine

How to Use an Edge Stitcher Attachment on a Sewing Machine

How to Make a Zigzag Stitch with a Sewing Machine

How to Make a Straight Stitch or Topstitch on Sewing Machine

How to Make a Basting Stitch with a Sewing Machine

How to Use a Seam Guide on a Sewing Machine

How to Adjust Tension on a Sewing Machine

How to Use the Stitch Length Regulator on a Sewing Machine

What Are Sewing Machine Presser Feet?

How to Load a Bobbin

How to Thread a Sewing Machine

How to Select & Change a Sewing Machine Needle

Copyright © 2026 · Howcast · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Ventures with Springwire.ai

Privacy Manager