Ok, what am I doing wrong?

Looks like its doing it on whatever I sew. Ok stitch on top, underneath its all furry with thread. I've tried tension from 2 to 6. I did have the bobbin in upside down, but I fixed that. Still, same thing.

Huh?

Sounds like you have missed part of the upper threading path. When you get nests on the bottom its an upper thread/tension problem. Nest or loops on top its a bobbin problem. Also when sewing anything that is coated you create drag on the needle and the 'fabric' also might not feed properly. You might have better luck by putting a piece of paper or a Teflon sheet under the 'fabric' to reduce the drag. If its a mechanical machine then conditioning the thread may help too.

Yeah, I rethreaded the top after I realized there was no tension up there. Works now. Thanks.

Good deal!!! I tried to tell my student this summer 3 things: 1. Unless it's fabric that will keep needle holes (like vinyl, etc.) any mistake can be picked apart and redone. 2. You will make mistakes. When it happens, you get one really good cuss word then you have to fix the problem. And 3.

90% of all stitch weirdness problems can be solved by unthreading the machine and very carefully rethreading it. ;)

Remember to make sure you leave the presser foot up when you are threading the sewing machine. That's the one mistake I see less experienced sewers make the most. When the presser foot is up, the tension disks are disengaged. When the presser foot is down, the disks are together. You can't get the thread between them if they are together.

I'm so glad you got your problem solved. Hope they are all that easy to fix. :)

Sharon

Now there's a tidbit that I needed to know. I always leave the presser foot down to put my finger behind the needle so I can see the hole to put the thread through.

Makes sense. Probably what happened. Thanks Sharon.

Dwight

I always thread the *upper* part of the threading path with the presser foot up, as Sharon says that opens the tension disks. Then when I'm down to threading the needle, I put the presser foot down, because as you say, I can see the eye of the needle better. No requirement to have it 100% one way or t'other! ;-}

I admit, the "putting the presser foot down for threading the eye of the needle" trick was something I discovered at about age

40+....

Beverly

I thread in two stages. Presser foot up while I thread all the way to the needle (so that the thread will run freely while I manipulate it around all the places I need it to go) then presser foot down and out of the way while I get the thread in the needle.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Hey, I'm from Houma. Long time ago. How you fairing down there?

If you really want to know, post again and I'll start another thread. Basically, a city which was 80% demolished a year ago is beginning to come back. Emphasis on beginning. We are now only 75% demolished. The American (and Canadian, and other parts of the world) people have been marvellously generous and helpful to us. The insurance companies and the government, on the other hand...............

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.