I decided to try my hand at machine quilting a rather large bed quilt and am using a 90% poly and 10% cashmere batting with a 90/14 quilt needle. After 30 minutes, it started to skip stitches, so what I'm going to try today is to loosen both the top and bottom tension. There's no lint in the bobbin case, the needle's new, and the bobbin is oiled. Using a single hole needle plate and feed dogs down for free motion. Any other suggestions?
Musicmaker
I assume you are doing straight stitching and not free motion -- is that correct? Are your top and bobbin threads the same? I usually run into problems if I am using different threads even tho' they might both be the same weight, etc. I now use exactly the same thread on top and bottom and very rarely have skipped stitches. Of course, that's *my* machines preference -- I am sure yours has it's own personal preferences :-). CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at
Musicmaker
Skipped stitches, let's see..... needle needs to go up to size 16, 50 Wt thread.
Maybe you are stretching your fabric too tight when you run it under the presser foot. The quilt can not have any pull on it when you are quilting an area.
When I machine quilt on my frame, if I have the quilt rolled too tight I get skipped stitches. You can't let the quilt hang off the table at all. That causes too much tension on the fabric.
Also try a thread lubricant. I take a piece of batting and soak it with the lubricant then place it under the thread just before it passes through the tension discs on my SM. Don't have the batting dripping with lubricant just wet.
Batting has two sides, one smooth and one rough. The smooth side should be towards the quilt top. This might be the culprit, so the lubricant should help.
Kate T. South Mississippi
Are you pulling the quilt through the needle faster then the needle is trying to sew? I was doing that and when I stopped pulling so fast, the skipping stopped.
Donna in WA
Musicmaker: Your batting is one of the newer types on the market, I think. You might want to send email inquiry to the manufacturer. Also, ask some long arm quilters who quilt for customers, as they cycle through a wide variety of products.
I hope you will report back to us about the batting function and outcome; plus the brand name.
Thanks and good luck, PAT in VA/USA
I'm free motion quilting and have enought table around me to support the entire quilt if it's folded over in places. The quilt isn't pulled too tight and I'm not going fast - have tried several speeds and the same thing keeps happening. My bobbin and top threads are both about 30 weight because I want the quilting to show. If I have
30 minutes this afternoon I'm going to try the lubricant idea. I've also ordered the 'halo' from Sharon Schamber that was recently mentioned in a post and perhaps it will help.Musicmaker, ongoing research into the mysteries of machine quilting
If it worked OK for the first 30 minutes, then your needle might need changing. Yes, they can go dull that quickly! Especially if they have to punch through lots of seams. Or try some different needles, e.g. top stitch, microtex or jeans. Roberta in D
"Musicmaker" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
I'm going to try a new, heavier needle. the batt isn't scrimmed or anything like that and I can't really tell if there's a right side or a wrong side. I did try loosening the upper tension and ended up taking out a lot of stitches in that spare half hour I was hoping for yesterday - so I'll try a new needle and the lubrication idea posted earlier. I'll keep you posted.
Musicmaker
On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:59:57 -0500, Musicmaker wrote (in article ):
It sounds to me like you might be "pulling" on the quilt, causing stitch to skip. It's kind of hard to explain, but even sometimes when you think you're moving smoothly, you pull the quilt when you don't want to. Try driving faster rather than slower.
Did you loosen the bobbin tension?? with most bobbins set for lighter weight thread putting a 30 wt in might create enough drag on the bobbin thread to cause skipped stitches.
Pati, > I'm free motion quilting and have enought table around me to support
Ok - here's hopefully the final feedback on how my machine quilting adventure is going. I put a bit of lube on a bit of batt at the point where the top thread is pulled into a new direction. Can't tell if that's made a difference. I also loosened the bobbin tension and changed to what's labeled a "denim" needle, 100/18. Working like a charm now!! Since this quilt is the product of a recent post called "whose quilt is this", I'll be posting pics for everyone to see when it's done. love and hugs and thanks for all the input
Musicmaker
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