Marlene Bowker Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Hallo everyone! Lollipop has been playing along very nicely until I've taken the polyester thread off and putting Signature Cotton on. Since I've changed it back to polyester I've been having trouble with the stitch quality at the back of the practice piece going from right to left... I've changed needles, tweaked tension, cleaned bobbin, cleaned retension discs etc. etc. Cleaned everything... the stitches looks pretty moving machine to the right (which I know is what is preferred by the rotary hook) but don't like the stitches going backwards (i.e right to left). The stitches lies "flat" almost like when the top tension needs tightening but the tension is fine going to the right. I am used to prettier stitches at the back. What else can I check to improve the quality?? Any advice will be appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matildanme Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Hi Marlene, Could be your bobbin tension is too tight.....you may want to loosen it a little cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Bowker Posted April 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 I'll try it, thanks Originally posted by matildanme Hi Marlene, Could be your bobbin tension is too tight.....you may want to loosen it a little cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 I'd still tighten the top more. You have to find the happy balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Marlene, When you're trying to compensate for the natural change in tension in that "right to left" direction (and expect it occasionally when you push the machine away from you) these things can help: [*] set the stitch length a little shorter (11) since the farther apart the stitches are, the thread pulls the needle harder until it's time to take another stitch [*] Go up a half-step in needle size to reduce flex [*] Slow down (I know, tough to do)--the faster you quilt, the more the needle flexes [*] LOOSEN the bobbin tension more (let it drop to the floor if necessary and TIGHTEN the top tension [*] keep the fabric sandwich smooth but not taut. The tighter you make the sandwich in the frame, the more the needle will flex (plus the air space in the batting gets reduced, which makes it hard for the needle to pull the thread into that air space Rougher thread such as cotton (even though it's technically weaker than poly) will tug on the needle harder and more inconsistently. Compensate for that with looser top and bobbin tension to get a good, balanced stitch. Hope this helps:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jans Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Good advice for all of us. Thanks Dawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Thanks Dawn. I needed this too. I didn't know about the stitch length being shorter. Have printed it out and put it on my bullentin board, for reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Bowker Posted April 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Originally posted by DawnCavanaugh Marlene, When you're trying to compensate for the natural change in tension in that "right to left" direction (and expect it occasionally when you push the machine away from you) these things can help: [*] set the stitch length a little shorter (11) since the farther apart the stitches are, the thread pulls the needle harder until it's time to take another stitch [*] Go up a half-step in needle size to reduce flex [*] Slow down (I know, tough to do)--the faster you quilt, the more the needle flexes [*] LOOSEN the bobbin tension more (let it drop to the floor if necessary and TIGHTEN the top tension [*] keep the fabric sandwich smooth but not taut. The tighter you make the sandwich in the frame, the more the needle will flex (plus the air space in the batting gets reduced, which makes it hard for the needle to pull the thread into that air space Rougher thread such as cotton (even though it's technically weaker than poly) will tug on the needle harder and more inconsistently. Compensate for that with looser top and bobbin tension to get a good, balanced stitch. Hope this helps:) Thank you for taking the time to clarify this, ... I've loosened my bobbin quite a lot as advised and will tighten my top thread further as the others suggested... thanks y'all Also, I've noticed the machine has quite a bit of drag under the quilt sandwich even after tightening the sandwich some... especially when I've got the extended base on, is this normal? Or is there a way I can reduce drag without over-stretching the quilt sandwich? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 to reduce the drag with the extended base on...you would need to raise your leveler bar and the front quilt top bar. make sure these bars remain level. you should be able to extend your fingers underneath the leveler bar up to your first set of knuckles while a quilt is loaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Bowker Posted April 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Originally posted by sagebrushquilter to reduce the drag with the extended base on...you would need to raise your leveler bar and the front quilt top bar. make sure these bars remain level. you should be able to extend your fingers underneath the leveler bar up to your first set of knuckles while a quilt is loaded. The leveler bar is fine, but the quilt top bar is to low then... how do I adjust the front quilt top bar? ... being a newbie I didn't know you can adjust these... I know I used to do this on the home frame system I had... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar Schmutz Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Wow Dawn! I've never read the explanation about why we should not tighten the quilt sandwich! I knew we were supposed to not have it taut but the explaination about the air space and batting was new to me, thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 To raise the front bar..you need to loosen the nut on the left side from front end of the bar. You also needed to remove the right end hand knob. The bar will slide out...then turn the eye bolts to raise them. Clear as mud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Marlene, Your Lucey rollers don't adjust the same way as Kristina suggests--she's right about how to do it for a Millie table, though! Your end-arms that support the rollers are screwed into two mounting holes/brackets. The only way to change the height of the quilt top roller is to loosen those bolts holding the left and right arms in place, then lift up on the front rollers so that the end arms tilt up a bit on the front. Hold them in place and tighten the nuts/bolts again. It's okay if the arms are pitched a bit--everything will still work fine:). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Oops. Thanks dawn for pointing that out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Bowker Posted April 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 I've tilted the front roller bars and no more drag :cool: Thanks Dawn & Kristina I'm still tweaking the tension to get the backward stitches pretty...... hope to get it right soon ... is there no photo posted on here to which I can compare mine to see what it actually should look like (the backward stitches...)? a reference would help, but to my understanding I read somewhere here that you should hardly notice a difference at the back, maybe here and there. I've followed Dawn's advice exept for a 3.5 needle coz I don't have any.... anyway, I'll keep goin somewhere I'll find that "sweet spot" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Hi Marlene, Glad it's working better! You'll get the tension thing down...it definitely involves a learning curve. Just to clarify on the needle size...when you got your machine it came with a package of 4.0 needles. To go "up" a half-size you'd go to a 4.5 (which is a little larger and stiffer). The next time you place an order with APQS, get a package of both 3.5 (smaller) and 4.5 (larger) to have on hand for the more unusual projects and to give you greater versatility. Happy quilting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnHenry Posted April 9, 2011 Report Share Posted April 9, 2011 No one mentioned that you might want to think about having separate bobbin cases for cotton thread and polyester thread. You will spend less time hassling with bobbin tension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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