poor stitch quality

[Kywoman]

I just adjusted the stitch plate height on my George and reset the hopping foot and now my stitch quality is poor. My stitches aren't nice and straight; they sort of go a little crooked where the needle enters the fabric. Does anyone know how to help me? I did set the hopping foot at the height that is recommended (1/64.)

[Quilting Heidi]

Were your stitches crooked before you made the adjustment? For my Milli I keep the hopping foot pretty low. The recomended amount is the thickness of 2 business cards.

[Kywoman]

Yeah I they were good but my stitch plate was too low and I was having trouble keeping my quilts flat. I may have to call Dawn tomorrow and pester her. I hate to do it but I am worried now. I really need to take some classes in Iowa soon!

[Mrs.A]

Hi KYwoman:

Still wish I knew what your name is. When I originally got my George, the throat plate was too low...it sat well below the plastic insert. I had to add a couple thin washers underneath each of the screws to raise the throat plate to a better height...more level with the insert. Then I adjusted the hopping foot accordingly. That 1/64 is a good guideline but if you are sewing with very thick or very thin batting, you may have to reset the hopping foot to accommodate it. I only had to do that once...was crazy enough to quilt a large quilt with a double layer of wool batting...what was I thinking? Anyway, you might just tinker with the hopping foot height a bit more. If that fails, Dawn ALWAYS comes to the rescue and Amy is fantastic on the phone! Nancy in Tucson

[DawnCavanaugh]

Hi Kywoman,

Actually, we do set the hopping foot height nowadays to the thickness of a single business card. That is better for the thinner batting more quilters use. Two business cards is correct for high loft batting.

Be sure the needle is as low as possible when you make that adjustment, and use the fly wheel to turn the needle down by hand (the needle up/down button won't quite get it in the lowest position.)

Also, try tweaking the needle eye slightly more to the left (rotate the needle clockwise).

Let us know how it's going!

[Kywoman]

Thanks so much for your help. I will stay up tonight tinkering with it. I wish I had instant experience in cases like this.

[Kywoman]

I tweaked my needle and lowered the hopping foot so that 1 business card could slide under it and now I am playing with tension. I just can't seem to achieve that pretty stitch. It is a little bit better. Maybe it will look better in the morning. Thanks to Dawn for helping me.

Ramona

[DawnCavanaugh]

Ramona,

There are other factors that can affect how you get the "pretty stitch" on everything, including the type of thread and how it's wound. For instance, some thread exits the cone in a counter-clockwise direction. Our "standard" thread path takes the thread and twists it in a counterclockwise direction. So for cones that exit that way, we are either adding additional twist to the thread, or are untwisting the thread. That can cause the stitch to look like the fibers are split with each stitch, or it can cause the stitches to "stairstep" a bit. The stairstep effect happens when the thread gets extra twist to it. If the twist is tight enough, you can end up with an occasional "slip knot" because the thread has twisted so much that it finally recoils around itself and literally forms a slipknot when the take up lever makes a stroke.

You can re-thread the three-hole guide directly by the tension disks to help alleviate that problem. Insert the thread into the rear hole from the bottom, dive down into the second hole (don't wrap the thread around the guide) and come up out of the third hole. You can even skip the center hole, too. This removes the twisting action to the thread and forces it to enter the tension disks as straight as possible.

If you're having "directional" tension or stitch quality concerns, then it will be noticeable when you pull the fabric toward yourself, or when you pull fabric out of the throat. These two motions flex the needle ahead of or away from the hook point, making it harder for the machine to form a perfect stitch with each stroke. Try pushing fabric through the throat and into it whenever possible. Increase the motor speed so that your stitches are a little smaller...that helps control how far the needle flexes before it's time for it to move on to the next stitch.

You'll get there, don't worry!