mitzi Posted May 24, 2009 Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 Can anyone help me? I have a king-size quilt on my Milli, and for 6 rows quilted just fine using King Tut varigated thread with SuperBob pre-wound in the bobbin. In row 7, the thread keeps breaking every couple of inches. I misted the spool with water and put in plastic bag in freezer for a couple of hours, tightened tension in bobbin and loosened upper tension, rethreaded different ways. My next step is to go out and buy some silicone. But can anyone offer me any other suggestions I have used this in the past with no problems - did an entire queen size quilt. Thank you for any suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted May 24, 2009 Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 Hi Mitzi, Here are a couple things to check. --Is your quilt sandwich too tight? If you can bounce a quarter off it, it is w-a-y too tight. Loosen it. Not to the point of looking like a hammock but it should not be tight. --Did you loosen your top tension? I love KT but find that I --have to run it almost "sloppy loose". Give that top tension a half turn (like 3 o'clock counter clockwise to 9 o'clock) and then try stitching with it. If you are still breaking thread, turn it counter clockwise again (another half turn). And try stitching again. --If after trying the top tension 2 or 3 turns and it is still breaking, check you bobbin, maybe you have that set too high also. If you have a Towas gauge, I run my bobbin about 18 when I have KT on top. --Change bobbins, maybe you have a bad bobbin. These are all things that most of us try when we have issues with KT. Let us know how you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saundra Posted May 24, 2009 Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 I have to watch myself about getting my quilt to tight on the frame. When I do this I have a problem with thread breaking. Is your quilt loose enough? Rule of thumb, should be loose enough so when the machine moves under the quilt it looks like a mole moving. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankiequilter Posted May 24, 2009 Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 Recently when I had constant thread breakage, besides doing what you have done, pulling off several yards of thread in case there was a bad section, and changing the needle and bobbin, I traced the thread path from the needle back toward the cone of thread and found it had wound around the hook/spring at the tension. For some reason this happened twice. Once I corrected this I had no futher thread breaking. This can be so annoying. Good luck correcting the problem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted May 24, 2009 Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 I has this same thing happening this past week...and when I CLEANED the bobbin area and gave it a GREAT bath of WD40 and oil...it stopped. In the process of doing that I found a piece of thread that was stuck in there from the quilt before the one I was having the problem with. I wasn't having any trouble but then 3 rows in I was getting breaking threads, I NEVER break threads. So the moral of that story is that even if you think your machine is clean, there may be something in there and a good blow out and a WD40 just might do the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzi Posted May 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 THANK YOU to all of you that replied. I did everything as you suggested, but I did end up putting Sewer's Aid around the bottom of the spool of thread. I was still having problems prior to putting the Sewer's Aid on, and I felt like it was breaking whenever the thread was unwinding close to the bottom of the spool - like it was having to tug off of it. Since I put the Sewer's Aid on, I was able to complete two passes with no thread breakage I had to quit to make breakfast for the family and I now need to go buy flowers. I will be crossing all my fingers and toes in the hopes that everything runs smoothly when I get back to it. Thank you again for all of your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 There is great advice here, Mitzi. Also, if you think the thread is breaking at the bottom of the cone, try turning it upside down. This was advice given by Dawn Cavanaugh a while back and it has worked for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaFritchen Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 It was amazing to watch the teachers at MQS...they showed me that I have kept the quilt much too tight...it WAS like a mole moving around under there! Almost ready to try it loose with my new Circle Lord swirls...showering here and perfect sewing, quilting day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 I honestly have to have my quilt fairly tight....its the only way I have quilted and when I loosen it up I get totally tucks on the bottom, and the machine hates it that way. It breaks needles, threads and just won't work well. I wonder its also one of those things that each machine has its own sweet spot regarding the quilt sandwich as well. I can't bounce a quarter on it, but almost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Bonnie I tend to keep my sandwich tighter too. I think you just have to try different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 Thread breaking is such a pain. I was having the same issue today. Did four rows no problem then the thread broke and (dare I say it) I rarely have issues with thread breaking. I changed needles twice, checked for rough spots around the throat plate, rethreaded my machine, loosened the tension way loose, still the same problem. Then I happended to think I was using red thread. I have heard that red and black dyes can tend to weaken thread. So, I tried another thread and no problem. My memory is so short it seems, I have had problems with red thread before. Anyway, I loosened my tension up some more, put sewers aid on the thread and threaded through only one of the holes in the 3 hole thing and am just trying to make it through this quilt. Only a couple of rows left.....wish me luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klwheeler Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 I'm about to try quilting with King Tut and have such wonderful success with So Fine! and Bottom Line (in the bobbin), but in the past had so much thread breakage with King Tut, that I really wanted to toss it (and I have every color in it). I finally went back to So Fine! Now this Guild Raffle with Train fabric quilt really calls for the variegated Old Giza. I've wound several bobbins with it and plan to try it in the top. Sunday April 25th will be the day of working on it (after I've had a good sleep). Right now at 2:15 am Sunday morning, I've trimmed threads on the top, cut a length of batting, and loaded the quilt back, batting and top onto the machine sideways and centered the top with the back. I'll do a few test strips off to the side on a similar quilt sandwich to get the tension right. Keep your fingers crossed... Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 Hi Karen, How ae you making out this morning? I also love the look of King Tut, but have to "fight" with it, too. Mine doesn't break, I just have tension issues with it. I think someone on a thread said to use a 4.5 needle with Tut. I have never used anthing but a 4.0, but I plan to try a 4.5 the next time I use Tut to see if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 Hi Karen, I find with Kindtut that I have to loosen my bobbin tension and my top tension. The top has almost no tension on it and I run only through one hole of the pigtail. I have used a 3.5 successfully but a 4.0 is much easier. Don't keep your quilt sandwich too tight. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandmaLKB Posted April 28, 2010 Report Share Posted April 28, 2010 When I bought my machine, the salesman told me that if you push your finger up under the quilt sandwich and try to grab hold of the quilt top with the other hand and can't, it's too tight. You should be able to grab hold of the quilt top when it is pushed up from underneath. I roll my quilt up and then back off the backing and top rollers just a smidge and it is just right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega QW Posted April 28, 2010 Report Share Posted April 28, 2010 You mention "spool" instead of "cone", and so I just want to jump in and remind you that the spool has to turn clockwise as the thread is coming off it. I don't know why it makes a difference if the spool turns counterclockwise instead, but it does, so we just do what the machine wants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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