Have you ever felt like your sewing machine is not feeding the fabric the way it used to? Well, there may be a simple fix. This issue can be caused by a build up of fibers within the hook area. After sewing heavy projects, such as sewing with fleece, many of the fibers may build up under the needle plate. This build up is often impossible to see, without needle plate removal, and can go unnoticed. After time, this build up can become so great that it limits the feed dog’s range of motion and they may be unable to come up through the plate. This causes the feed dogs to lose the appropriate amount of contact with the fabric leading to the feeling that your machine is not feeding the fabric. To clean, carefully use the tip of a screwdriver or other object to push out and remove the lint.

Below is a picture showing the fiber build up. The blue arrows are pointing at fiber build up between the feed dogs.

This is how clean feed dogs will look. (See Below)

-Written by Ashleigh Brooks