nora123 Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 Ok all you supersmart people I need your help. I'm sewing along and all of a sudden the top thread is no longer in the eye of the needle and I have a tangle of thread. What can this be. Stitch quality is beautiful, tension is ok. I'm stumped. Don't you know this happens on Friday and I have one of my quilts on and need to finish so I can load customer quilts. It does seem to happen when I am sewing away and to the left as I'm standing on the freehand side. TIA. Nora Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francine Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 I had this happen this morning about 3:30 a.m.! I thought i was imagining it because i was so tired! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 I am not a "supersmart" but going on a hunch... Double check your thread path. Pull it out and thread it back through. Maybe something is slipping out of tension along the route. Where is the "tangle of thread" happening? At the take up lever? What kind of thread are you using? It could be spooling off unevenly...and catching someplace. Try some Sewer's Aid? It could be your top tension is a wee bit too tight? Ease off 1/4 turn on the knob. Or maybe you need to go to a larger needle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 This happened to me a couple of days ago. It was BL on top and in the bobbin. I think what happened was--the top thread was shredding and a tiny strand was still threaded and being pulled down under the needle plate. The rest of the shredded thread wrapped around and snarled with the tiny strand but after the eye of the needle. As the snarl became bigger, it snapped the tiny strand that was still threaded and now you have a snarl and an un-threaded needle with the thread still being caught by the hook. Weird, huh? I changed the needle and slathered on some Sewer's Aid on the cone and the bobbin thread. It only happened once, so perhaps that was a good fix. So strange..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 I just thought of something else.... The bobbin thread might not be wound properly (tight enough) -- this can be one of those "things" that we miss during the investigation and could be the cause that is overlooked. It's those little things like this that sometimes do weird things to our tension and make our machines act strange! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nora123 Posted March 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 Linda, you just described it to the tee. I will try your suggestions. Thank you so much. Nora Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnHenry Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 While all machines should be able to sew equally well in all directions, the reality seems to be that (from the freehand side) these machines like to sew from left to right (and not right to left), and from "far away" towards you, not starting near your body and moving in a straight line away. I have thread problems when I sew for very long against these directions, so I make it a point to stick to those two directions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 That has happened to me many times...it was the thread jumped out from the last pig-tail thread guide and got snagged in the needle screw (!!) OR it got stuck in the "seam" fo the front of my machine. You know where the front metal housing piece touches the side peice, on the right corner. The So Fine thread was thin enough to wedge right in...get caught, fray, then finally break. It took a while for me to figure this out. I now have a piece pf painters tape covering the metal corner. GOod luck! Lisa APQS Liberty NW NJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted March 20, 2010 Report Share Posted March 20, 2010 I also had the same thing happen, do you think this was a thread conspiracy? No really, I also keep a piece of tape over that edge of metal housing to keep the thread from jumping in there and as far as that thread break, I noticed some fraying so I replaced the needle and no problems since...I'm thinking that maybe the eye of the needle gets a little groove worn into it or something? I probably don't change my needle enough but am good about cleaning out that bobbin area! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted March 20, 2010 Report Share Posted March 20, 2010 Vicki, How often do you change your needle? I used to do it every big quilt, or every couple of smaller ones...or if I heard that popping sound. Then, I kind of forgot, and it was fine. Then forgot again, and it was OK so I kept on going for a couple more quilts...and it was fine. Now I am trying an experiment. Change when it sounds like it needs it. And it is fine! Wonder if I am pushing my luck:). Lisa APQS Liberty NW NJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted March 20, 2010 Report Share Posted March 20, 2010 My guess would be the thread slipped out of the tension disk or the thread path is a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 When this happened to me, the thread popped out of the last pigtail before the needle bar and slipped into the slot between the machine and the handle connection. The thread slowly shreads then comes out of the needle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 Lisa, I change my needle about every 3-4 quilts or sooner if something doesn't seem right...but I do clean out the bobbin area every day...some fabrics like batiks are harder on needles but then others that are a looser weave don't seem to wear it as fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelleywa Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 This has happened to me a couple of times and in both cases the thread had slipped from the pigtail guide above the needle and got caught in the needle screw , just as described above. I suppose it is a good idea to quickly check the thread path every now and again but it's difficult when it happens in the middle of a row! Shelley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonbon Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 I've had thread shredding and trouble similar to this. I discovered the pigtails had grooves worn in them from the thread being fed thru them. Until I received new ones I turned the pig tails so the thread was not hitting the rough spots/grooves in the pigtails. I could see the trouble on close inspection. Now the new ones are in place and I've had no trouble with thread shredding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 Hi Vicki. Yep, me too. That seems to be about where I am with needle changing. I used to change with every quilt, now three seems to be just fine. Last week I did an old quilt made from 70's fabrics, including cotton curtain material for the sashing and borders, and double-knit-polyester for some of the patches! Yuck. Every stitch went POP through the sashings and borders! Once it was all done, I kinda liked it. The blocks were so ugly, but all together, they were almost nice!! Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 My problem was caused by the pigtails grooves... like Bonnie, I turned them over, and when we got to a big sportsmens shop, got the fishing pole pigtails.. no problem since, that I can think of... brain isn't functioning on no sleep.. At least no one blamed it on poor thread.. Penny hated BL when I first got her. When Amy finally got it into our mule heads, how to time her.. and we got her, the bobbin tension and the top tension to coincide, she's run like a dream since.. Bet Amy thinks we turned up our boots and croaked.. LOL We've not had to call her in I think a couple months now.. RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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