mrsbishwit Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 I am at the end of my rope or should I say thread!, lol Any ways I have my daughter's quilt on my machine and I have King Tut for the top thread and Bottom Line in the bobbin. This is also my first attempt at trying King Tut. Anyways the problem that I am having since last night and all of today (ripped out the first row of my panto 4 times! now) is that I am getting the King Tut little loopies scattered on the back of the quilt and occasionally a loose stitch of the King Tut on the top as well. The bobbin tension seems fine because that thread is not having issues on the top or bottom of the quilt. My first thought was that my top tension was too loose so I tightened it up a little but then the thread would break but when I try to loosen the top tension in small ingriments I start to get the little loops on back and occaional loose stitch on top. Help!! My fingers are getting sore from ripping out the stitches. Also I have a Towa gauge for my bobbin can someone tell me that have success with Kig Tut and owns this guage what is the # that you set your bobbin at...when I have so fine in the top and bottom line in the bobbin I keep my boobin tension at 20 per the towa gauge. But am wondering what it should be at when using King Tut in the top and bottom line in the bobbin? Thanks for any help...was hoping to have this quilt off the machine by tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 I can't help with the Towa gauge because I don't use one but I do use King Tut quite often. I also use So Fine in the bobbin more than BL. What I usually do with KT is only thread through 2 of the holes on the 3 hole guide. You also may want to loosen your bottom tension a bit. I hope this helps you some..... good luck with your quilt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoryJM Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Hi Joann, Learned something interesting in Sue Patten's classes at Innovations. Her thought is that testing bobbin tension with either a guage or by doing the "drop" test is great--if you're quilting air. She suggests loading the bobbin, pulling the thread up just as if you were going to start quilting and then see how easily it pulls through the layers. If its tight, loosen; too loose, tighten. She says that invariably, she makes all her tension corrections with the bobbin prior to do anything with the top tension. Just an idea.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Joann, Try switching to a larger needle, and then go ahead and loosen your bobbin tension a bit more so that you can tighten the top without King Tut breaking. King Tut puts extra drag on the needle, and needs a larger hole in the fabric to efficiently enter the quilt layer and pull the bobbin thread up without breaking. Another trick that can help is to "weave" the King Tut thread through the 3-hole thread guide like a running stitch instead of wrapping it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg_marsh Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Some also use Sewers Aid - run 4 lines of Sewers Aid down the side of the cone. I have used Dawn's method of threading King Tut and it did help. I have come to prefer Lava. The variegated combinations are similar to King Tut and I generally use Sew Fine in the bobbin. I have much fewer problems with Lava and yet get the same look. Lava is a polyester thread by Superior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matildanme Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Try giving your bobbin area a good clean too. You may have a some fluff hiding in there. A few weeks ago I was working on a quilt that had the batting from hell. It left gritty, powdery fluff and my millie was not happy. Loopy bottom stitches were the result. I ended up vacuume cleaning the bobbin area half way through each row. sure was a pain. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewlinzi Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Tension is an absolute pain and so unpredictable. My suggestion is to have a pretty loose bobbin and tighten up the top (not very technical). LINZI x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sams Mom Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 I've always have problems using King Tut. My machine just doesn't like it. I have found that I can use Superior's LAVA thread without any adjustments at all. If you haven't tried it, I think it is a wonderful alternative to King Tut. It looks like a cotton verigated thread (no sheen) as compared to the shinier Rainbow alternative (which I find hard to work with also). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted October 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Thanks for the good tips, I am going to give King Tut 1 more try later this morning. I have a silacone spray that I did spray on the thread yesterday which helped a little bit with the breaking of the thread, but the drag that Dawn described was deffinately noticable so today I will try loosening my bobbin tension some more and also will try threading the guide in running stitch fashion instead of wrapping it like Dawn suggested and see if that helps...if it dosen't work for me then I will try the lava thread...I have a color combination of that thread that would work on this quilt also. I hope this works, I have a lot of Rainbows, King Tut, and a few Lava cones of thread that have been collecting dust because I can't seam to get them to work for me...If these tips don't work I might have to do the unthinkable and sell all of the above mention thread I own, which I really don't want to do:( Also I do have the 4.0 singer needles in my machine (brand new needle as well, no burs etc..) this is the size needle reccomended by Superior for these threads so I think it all comes down to the tension adjustment sweet spot..Boy if I can master this one I can see a thread buying frenzy in my near future, lol!!! Wish me luck!!! will check in later to tell if any of these things work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted October 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Just finished my 2nd row, that's right I made it through to the 2nd row following the tips mentioned. 1) loosened bobbin tension (I normally keep it at 20 when using so fine in the top and bottom line in the bottom) but loosened it to about 15-18 using King Tut for the top and so fine for the bobbin 2) then I tightened up my upper tension (what seemed like quite a bit to me than I am normally used to) 3) also sprayed the cone of thread with Sulivan's silicone spray (11oz can bought from "Kings Men.com") I did not have to use the "running stitch" method of threading my machine that Dawn mentioned though. I still have an occaisional top thread showing in a point of the panto if I pause too long on the back of the qult (not a loop though) but would not be noticable at all if I would have used a cordinating bobbin thread, but since I used a light contrasting thread for the bobbin it shows a bit here and there but I deffinately can live with that. So Thank You!!! for all of your help and wisdom I am more confident today, so looks like I will be keeping my current thread stash!! :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnHenry Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 I'm happy for you that you solved your thread problem. As a newbie I have served my time having thread problems. On my first quilt I think I broke the thread at least 30 times. I now have King Tut tension down pat and may never change to a different thread! I'm sad because I wanted to buy all your King Tut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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