I have a Brother BM2600, and I'm trying to make a plushie. It's got lots of curves, but I'm having trouble sewing them - the machine is really sensitive. If I push even a little on the foot, the needle doesn't move at all; if I press a tiny bit more it speeds off so fast I can't go around curves without missing where I'm supposed to turn. I can go at a good speed, but only if I have a long straight, or long curve, area to sew so I can adjust the pressure before getting to the tough areas.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas of how to 'slow down'? There's nothing in the manual about speed settings, so I'm guessing the main problem is my own foot

Are you starting the sewing machine by giving the balance wheel a bit of a turn with your hand?  It's hard for an electric motor to start the machine from stillness, but after that it can keep a slower pace going.

Normally regulation of speed is dependent on your foot pressure as you guessed. It may just take some practice. You could try flipping the pedal the other way. I know it sounds strange but there have been times I felt this gave me more control.

My brother machine does the same way.............. I find sometimes it is just as easy to use the balance wheel and walk the stitches by hand around those curves. I understand what Shawn is talking about turning the foot pedal around...... it does give your foot a little better grip at times. Practice makes perfict, if it makes you feel any better I'm still practicing LOL.

Thanks guys. I did turn the foot around and found it much easier and a big thanks for that awesome tip; but I'm still having trouble. I even walked the stitches by hand around the tough parts, but the curve is so tight and small that I can't easily see the pattern I'm following. (Abdolos, I don't normally rotate the wheel on starting, although I do occasionally during sewing when it gets 'stuck'; I did try it this time and it didn't seem to help all that much)

I tried four times, two on a smaller pattern and two on a larger one. All of them are going in the bin. To be honest, I prefer handsewing to machining, but my hope is to make these plushies and sell them, which means speeding up the process a bunch. (I have already made a small prototype but it was handsewn; the experience of making that one was far more enjoyable)

I am not sure whether I will say screw it and just handsew, or waste a lot of materials practicing and hoping I don't screw it up when it comes to the real thing.

I have never tried it but could you use a fabric glue? Since they are small I wonder if it would hold the seams tight enough. Just a thought! Sometimes you just can't beat hand sewing with a needle and thread.

Don't practice on the real thing. Get some cheap scrap material and practice the curve you want to obtain on it. You don't even really have to cut the fabric out. Just draw the curve over and over on some scrape material and go at it.

I've gained enough control that I can actually take two or three stitches at a time. Let's take for example sewing a hand. The turn at the base of each finger can be really tight. You sew down to the base, stop, lift the foot, turn, sew a couple stitches (even if you do it by turning the wheel manually, lift the foot, turn and the sew back up the length of the finger. I am not saying it is easy but it is possible.

I have never tried it but could you use a fabric glue? Since they are small I wonder if it would hold the seams tight enough. Just a thought! Sometimes you just can't beat hand sewing with a needle and thread.

I don't think so. I haven't found any glue that would work that well; plus, I have a feeling it wouldn't meet local product safety standards (you have to ensure the stuffing doesn't leak).

I'd prefer to handsew, but I think the small prototype took me 5-6 hours. I am a slow stitcher

Don't practice on the real thing. Get some cheap scrap material and practice the curve you want to obtain on it. You don't even really have to cut the fabric out. Just draw the curve over and over on some scrape material and go at it.

I've gained enough control that I can actually take two or three stitches at a time. Let's take for example sewing a hand. The turn at the base of each finger can be really tight. You sew down to the base, stop, lift the foot, turn, sew a couple stitches (even if you do it by turning the wheel manually, lift the foot, turn and the sew back up the length of the finger. I am not saying it is easy but it is possible.

I've definitely not been practicing on 'good' fabric, but after four tries and lots of material wasted, I'm not sure I want to keep practicing only to waste several yards worth. I even practiced along the 'edges' in the seam allowance, just doing the curves.

I also am stopping and starting, as you do, but as the original post stated, I was having trouble with speed. Every time I'd stop to lift the footer and turn the fabric, I'd lose the correct pressure and either stall the machine or go speeding off and miss the next turn. Wheeling manually as I did yesterday produced better results, but I still find the turn is too tight and the pattern not easily visible.

My main concern is that even if I manage to practice this enough, I'll end up screwing it up once or twice anyway, and then I'll have wasted more materials. Whereas with handstitching it might be slow, but it's always accurate.

To put it more into context: I currently don't have money enough to invest in any of the ideas for Puppets in Melbourne. But I have a heap of fabrics that are just sitting there, so I don't have to spend much on making these and can turn a nice little profit margin in the short term. But taking more time means less profit margin... But it occurs to me that the shadow puppets I plan to make are not labour-intensive, so whilst they'll cost more in materials I'll not spend a lot of time doing it. I could trade off whatever time saved in making shadow puppets and spend it on the plushies.

On the other hand, to make a lot of plushies I'd spend months doing it.... If I were enjoying the machine sewing it wouldn't be much of an issue, but I sit down and 20 minutes later am just too frustrated to keep trying.

Na I thought of a idea........... Why don't you make some plushie type pin cushions to sell to other crafters. They wouldn't have to be very big at all. Another idea is to make a checkbook or wallet style folder to hold all your crafting sewing needles. I made myself one and I Love it. I made it out of fabric scraps.