how does the stretch setting on a sewing machine work?
Using the stretch setting changes the style of stitch and modifies regular stitches to be more conducive to working on stretchy fabric. Switching to ball-point or stretch needles will probably help, and adjusting your tension (if it’s the bottom thread that is loose and you have a front-loading bobbin, there is a tiny, tiny screw on the bobbin case that you can tighten. Be careful, because a couple turns and it’ll fall out, never to be seen again).
However, sewing machines are not ever going to work well sewing on neoprene; even with the stretch setting, you’re just not going to get enough stretch. You’re going to have trouble wtih your machine skipping stitches and/or having loose stitches. And it’s going to be a trick to keep the fabric from puckering and getting warpy/lumpy. Putting tissue paper between the fabric and your feed dogs will help with the lumps, though when you tear it away, it can pull the thread so it looks loose.
Only a serger can really sew on neoprene. And if you need to top-stitch, only a cover stitcher is going to give you stretch and eliminate or minimize lumps and hills.
Hi Maria, I’m not familiar with the Simplicity SA1600, but stretch stitch basically works like this. When you engage the S, your are moving a cam follower to a certain cam that will control the feed system. The cam will make the feed dogs move forward, and then reverse. The S+ & S- is a fine tuning if you will, so the stitches will properly balance. A proper stretch stitch will sew ontop of itself. It completes the forward stitch, reverses, stitchs in the same spot, and moves forward again, making the 3rd stitch in the same spot. After which it moves/feeds the fabric to the next stitch cycle. As for loose stitches underneath, could be the thread, needle, tension, any number of things. If the machine sews properly on cotton, and not the neoprene, then I’d ensure I have thread for neoprene sewing, the proper needle for the material, or perhaps a larger needle. If using nylon thread, the machine should handle it, but is not really designed for that type of sewing. Any machine may need a l
