Eyelashes on top

[Mrs.A]

Hi Gang:

Hip HIp Hooray...I've finally solved my chronic thread breaking problem. Now I'm wondering what advice you'd like to give me for the following problem:

I'm getting eyelashes on the top of the quilt when I make a fairly tight turn. The straight line stitching looks fine on top & bottom.

I'm sewing on a George with So Fine in the bobbin and LAVA on top (although I have been having the eyelash problem with other top threads too). So Fine is a 50 weight poly, Lava is a 35 weight poly. I'm running a new 4.0 needle and have tried major adjustments to top & bobbin tensions, threading the 3 hole guide without wrapping, using batting in the first thread guide to create extra drag, rethreading the whole thing and of course cleaning & oiling. Your thoughts? Thanks, Nancy in Tucson

[ffq-lar]

Hi Nancy,

See if loosening the top tension helps. You might not need extra drag when threading the machine, but Lava probably needs a thread sock. I'm sure you already know this, but the tensioner can get a big (half-turn or more) adjustment before you may notice improvement. Put together a small quilt sandwich, stitch, and adjust top and bottom to see where your George is happy. If you had breakage before, the tension was perhaps too tight then as well.

Just an aside--I have heard complaints about Lava on the longarm, but some can get it to work with a little tweaking. Good luck and keep on experimenting--you will have a happy George (and Nancy!) soon.

[smorris]

I'd loosen the top tension and then slightly tighten the bobbin tension.

Good luck

sue in australia

[Neher-in-law5]

Nancy, are you moving at a different speed with your curves? I have had the eyelashes on the bottom with George using King Tut on top and either the same in the bobbin or So Fine.

Right now I'm quilt a queen sized quilt with 40 weight Aurifil on top and 50 wt. Aurifil on the bottom. He is working great. If you get much Aurifil thread, the 40 wt is on a green spool and the 50 is on an orange.

Good luck.

[Mrs.A]

Thanks for the advice. He is sewing happily now but I'm not entirely sure which fix did the trick. I know what to do when there are eyelashes on the bottom but never could find any advice about eyelashes on the top. I had some notes from Dawn on another problem so I gave them a try. It's like starting from scratch. I loosened the bobbin tension a lot, then the top tension pretty much all the way. On a practice piece, I then sewed, tightened the top tension 1/2 turn, sewed again, tightened on top again another half turn and again and again until the stitch looked good and the eyelashes pretty much stopped. AND I also added a piece of batting to the first thread guide, slowed down the stitches per minute and I am thinking hard about sewing at a very consistent speed.

Thanks for always being out there to help. What a wonderful group in this forum! Nancy

[Neher-in-law5]

Glad he is working much better for you now.

[quiltmonkey]

Originally posted by Mrs.A

......On a practice piece, I then sewed, tightened the top tension 1/2 turn, sewed again, tightened on top again another half turn and again and again until the stitch looked good and the eyelashes pretty much stopped. Nancy

Tightening the top in 1/4 to 1/2 turn intervals... This is what I do, too. Little tweaks.

Glad you are "stitching pretty" once again!!!