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tension nightmares


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Okay all of you experts, before I try kicking the beasty to see if that will make it behave, is it normal to turn the top tension around over a full turn and still be having tension nightmares. I have frogged more stitches on my granddaughter's quilt then she has days of life. I am so frustrated I could cry (in fact have). I hope to find out some kind of answer at Innovations from the maintenance class but thought I would see if I could get it fixed before I leave tomorrow for Tacoma.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

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Hi Bekah,

Do you have any room at the side of your quilt with extra backing and batting? If you do find some fabric to put there and do some lines of quilting there. Tighten your tension until the thread starts braking then do a couple of lines after turning the tension a 1/2 turn. Continue down doing a few lines with each turn until the quilting lines are obviously loose.

By doing this you can see just how much YOUR machine can be adjusted. If you cannot get a good tension you may need to adjust your bobbin tension.

Another thing to look at is the quality of your bobbin winding or if you are using prewound bobbins do you need to pull off the sides of the bobbin.I hope you have found a solution to your problem by now. Good luck!

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Hi Bekah

Can you describe what your stitches look like top and bottom and we'll be able to help you better.

eg. on the top are they loose could you move them with your finger nail. On the bottom can you hardly see each individual stitch - does it look like one line.

On the curves, do you see lines of the top thread showing through on the back

On the back are you getting little loops or knots.

If you are using thread like Bottomline in your needle or bobbin case and then change to a thicker thread like King Tut you will have to have to loosen your tension and on the top it will be a whole turn of the dial, or even more. The longarm tensioner is not like your domestic machine, you need to turn the tensioner on a longarm at least half a turn to notice any difference. Going from bottomline to King Tut I would turn it at leas a full turn anticlockwise to slacken off. On the bobbin case you turn the screw on a tiny amount at a time, say 1/8th". Its the bigger of the two screws by the way.

The thread should be able to be pulled through the needle with only a little resistance, the bobbin case should drop about 5"-6" when using a metal bobbin and slightly less for aluminium and prewounds.

There is some excellent information on this website on troubleshooting tensions - so have a look through that too and if you still haven't got it right come back and let us know what your stitches look like.

Good luck

sue in australia

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More help on tension , Bekah I feel your pain .

Here is my tension problem please help , I have a brand new millennium been ppppppp on cheap muslin from Joanns with mountain mist batting , So Fine thread on top bottom line on bottom prewound and metal that I wind myself . Ok so I have been having wonderful beautiful stitches so today I feel brave put on a quilt . The only thing I changed was the batting went to quilters dream .

So the top thread stitches are fine , but the bottom looks like ugly , it stitches fine for awhile then all of sudden the bottom thread is just laying on the fabric , yes I SR at this point . They is no contancy as to when the bottom thread acts up .

Of course it is too late to call for help from apqs and tomorrow is the weekend .

Can any of you help me ???????:(

Thanks

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Hi Carol

You've said there is no constancy to when it will act up, but there might be and you just haven't noticed it yet.

Can you just check to see if its happening mostly as you move the machine away from you diagonally to the left. In this stitching direction the hook and the needle are working against each other. (check the troubleshooting pages of this website for a complete explanation of this - its explained there so much better than I can)

When you test your tension on a scrap of fabric before actually stitching its important to do swirls and loops so that you are checking the tension in all directions.

I don't know the composition of the battings you are using but they may be different ie. 100% cotton or 50%cotton/50% polyester and that would affect your stitch quality too.

Good luck

Sue in australia

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Hi Sue , I checked again I really can't see any constancy . When I do a pattern I move to my left .

I also checked toubleshooting they said if bottom thread is laying flat to tighting top thread tension , I did it got worse .

Batting mountain mist is a cheap 100% polyester . Quilters dream is very expensive [they the company] say it is the best for LA's etc . It also says it is 100% polyester they call it Quilters dream poly you won't believe its polyester ... So I really don't know what the problem is . I will get to do the frog stitch on this quilt yea !! LOL

I just can't understand why my milli was stitching so very on all the cheap fabric and batting then I go and put on a beautiful quilt with very nice expensive batting all goes to wrong . Oh well

thanks Sue for trying to help

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Hi Carol,

Try loosening your bobbin case tension more. This will allow the top thread (tension) to pull that bobbin thread up into the quilt so it doesn't just lay there. You will know if it is too loose as then you would see the bobbin thread pulled to the top.

Hope this helps and works. :)

Later,

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thanks to all of you who have posted some help for us who are having tension nightmares. In talking with others at Innovations, I think this is just a part of it all, I certainly was not the only one having problems or who had had problems in the beginning. I took the maintenance class at Innovations and have not had a chance to try all of the stuff I learned, but I did come home, wind some new bobbins and loosened my bobbin tension some. It was so dark but the time I got to it, I decided to wait until today to check again but it is still dragging off and on. I need to double check my stitch regulator wheels, I think they might be too loose and that is why the inconsistency with stiches when I have it on. My sitches are not just laying on the back. I have eyelashes everywhere. I am going to spend the time to frog my granddaughter's quilt and start over. I will keep you all informed, cause I learned so much and am so eager to see what I can do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Eyelashes on the back ..your top tension is toooooo loose and maybe the botton too tight also. I test test test and it looks good and I start to qult and voila...problems. some time I have the top tension screwed so tight I think "No way can it be that tight and work" but the same type thread on the top but a different spool and the same type tread on the bobbin (BL) and it changes with every quilt..so the batting and fabric has to have some effect on this. Do as suggested tighten the tension until the thread breaks and then start backing off. Bobbin tension is paramount that you get that correct, not too loose, not to tight. I promised myself I will "Frog no more" after having to do an entire king size, 55 hours to rip.:(

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1. "frogging" is taking out stitches-ripit-ripit.....took me a while to learn this one, but it is a great way to explain it....LOL

2. I could not live without my Towa Bobbin Case Tension Guide...I have a difficult time doing a drop test. But with this "spendy" ($70) little helper life is much easier. I always try a test pattern on the side of the quilt with the thread to make sure everything is dialed in. Then I can make all of my adjustments before I start on the fabric. Even if I am just using the batting and backing, the batting-because of the light color-lets me see what is really happening with the stitches. And being close to the edge-it is easier to look at the bottom side.

Pat

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Hi Vicki! Great picture! I would be a little careful of that being too slippery. Remember, if the bobbin slides too much then we have the bobbin backlash, and that is what the little blue springy thing is to eliminate in the bobbin case.

Later,

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well, I adjusted my tension so I wouldn't have any eyelashes, quilted for about 2 hours one day, came back the next and kept breaking thread, broke thread for 2 days and was so frustrated, called Linda, who said your tension is too tight. I guess I never thought of that because I had quilted for 2 hours with it. so did as she said, it is not breaking any more, but I am still getting eyelashes, just smaller ones. I am wondering if the climate in my shop is not part of the problem. would anyone know? now I know how a first grader feels when they first start to school. Just didn't think at 60 I would have to start back at square one with anything. Just goes to show, you are never too old to learn and you are never so old that you know it all. :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ok. I have loosened bobbin, tightened top, tested on similar fabrics, crossed my eyes, held my breath, cleaned out bobbin case, blew lint out of hook area, oiled machine, checked machine threading, moved mostly left to right, changed from heavy steel bobbins (backlash) to the APQS original bobbins that came with machine, have same thread top/bottom, I don't have a TOWA or I would use it, talked to Mark about loosening bobbin, did that. You name it, I've tried it. SO, I"m quilting along today and STILL come across areas of too loose top tension, even with bobbin FALLING it is so loose, AND without changing anything, on the same pass, seeing POKIES. I am so frustrated I could scream. I have read all the threads, all APQS info, everything I can get my hands on and still have inconsistent tension. Not bad all the time, but in spots. WHAT WHAT WHAT am I doing wrong?

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okay, I have one of my favorite books in front of me, Longarm Machine Quilting by Carol Thelen. If you have that book turn to page 112 (if you don't have it, I suggest you get it - I almost lived by it my first year and still keep it at arms length), it says to rethread your machine, check the cone position - make sure your 1st thread guide is directly above your cone. Check from the cone to the needle and make sure your machine is threaded correctly.

Hope this helps. I have never had this problem - but I have had others, so not sure what to tell you. I know how frustrating it can be. Good luck to you and remember to breathe!!

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A few days ago, I had one of these nightmare experiences - tension simply horrible. Tried everything I could think of, changed needle, spool, bobbin, turned every posssible knob... no way. Every time I thought: ok, now I got it, and stitched a few swirls that looked quite proper, after a few minutes the thread would break again, or the top tension get too loose, or the bottom thread suddenly show on top...

Then in anger I kicked off my shoes which had a rubber sole to them, and, believe it or not, the problem just vanished. I believe this has something to do with weather and atmospheric changes, and also with electric tension in the air. Then I noticed, when I put on my shoes again, that the thread would stick to the machine after a while (like hair or silk when you rub it to a balloon).

Now I have to think of a clever solution for winter, because my workroom does get very cold.

Well, I hope this experience might help those of you struggling with tension problems.

Good luck, and happy quilting,

Marie-Christine

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I'm on carpet...I can certainly kick shoes off. I'm willing to try anything. I did notice, after my rant, that only 1 spot seemed to be bad at the moment and during the frogging process, I noticed that there was a small knot in the thread that I couldn't undo, had to cut it and frog further than I wanted to. I'm doing this (frogging) from the back side of the machine. I noticed that the knot was situated on a line that had been quilted from right to left on the design. Maybe I just went too fast right there or something. I notice that my tension issues are worse using SR. Unfortunately, I really need to use SR for this quilt.

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