How to Keep Fabric from Puckering

Fabric puckering can be extremely frustrating when sewing as it can make your project not look as professionally done as you would like it to. ZJ Humbach shares several tips on how to keep fabric from puckering while sewing and how to fix puckered fabric.

How to Avoid and Fix Puckering

One of the first tips that ZJ shares for fabric puckering is knowing whether or not your fabric is going to pucker using a given fabric, needle, thread, and stitch combination. You can know this ahead of time by always having a small test stitch sample available to you before you begin your project. If you have fabric puckering when sewing on your test samples, you will most definitely have it on your project as well.

ZJ explains some of the quick fixes that can be made and then re-tested prior to beginning your project, which include loosening the needle tension and/or lengthening the stitch length. She also explains some additional changes you can make to your sewing habits that can help when working with different fabrics, like slowing down your stitching and ensure that you are only guiding the fabric through the machine, not pulling it.

ZJ then talks about needles and thread. When sewing with a wide variety of fabrics, choosing the best sewing machine needles can be tricky. She explains that you want to make sure that you are using the correct size and weight of needle and also the correct weight and type of thread.

ZJ then discusses how you can fix puckering if none of the previous methods have worked, which is by stabilizing the seam prior to stitching it. The type of stabilizer you choose to use can depend on the type and weight of the fabric being used and whether you want the stabilizer to permanently stay in the seam.