Two different colors of thread?

[happymountainmom]

I'm doing a quilt with a light blue thread on top and a white thread on the backing that is white and why does the top color come through on the white? Also, the tension changes when the quilt machine goes from right to left say in a pantagraph and I end up with smooth tension going one direction and not in the other. Has anyone else experienced this? Look forward to seeing everyone in class next week at S & D. Happymom

Thanks Bonnie and ramona-quilter for the great suggestions and your help...I will try the extra layer of batting! ramona-quilter....The ink that won't come out of the fabric on your quilt....I was told the other day of a product that you can purchase at the grocery store called color out...not sure how it works because I have not tried it. Nice quilt and quilting!

[Bonnie]

Okay, here is what I was told a zillion years ago about this matter as I was also having a terrible time with it.

When you use two different threads that aren't the same color you will always have the chance that either the bottom thread will come up or the top down...it won't happen all the time but the chance of specks here and there are normal...adjusting your tensions will help, but it takes time and practice to get it just right and that is for each bobbin. (This is one of those times that you can have one bobbin that you need to dial one way and the next back and the other.)

Also I was told the reason that I was getting smooth tension one way and not another was I was more comfortable moving the machine in one direction and when I was moving the other I was pushing or pulling a bit harder on the head and it was causing a slight jerk in the movement and I was distorting my tension.

Now I dont' have a SR machine so everything is manual for me and when I had these things pointed out I started to pay attention to my hands and how I was sliding the head, and how I was gripping my handles...I was faster in one direction and when I would start to go the other I would have a great time with right hand corners, but my left hand corners were a mess,without realizing I was really gripping that handle and was forcing the machine. I'm so right handed that I didn't realize that I was jerking or gripping the left side causing my trouble.....with time and patients I finally got both movements smooth and I don't find myself in this pickle as much now as I use to.

Only when I'm stressed or in a hurry do I have problems..so when it starts to show I slow down and breath. The thread thing is just getting it dialed in. I found that if I used Bottom thread in the bobbin and say King Tut in the top...I had to really play a lot until I finally figured what worked for my machine.

[ramona-quilter]

I agree with Bonnie. I know that I move different left-to-right than I do right-to-left. I have to focus to keep a consistent movement, especially in tight loops. Otherwise, I end up with eyelashes in the loops.:mad:

Fabrics play into that, too. The best case is that the backing just happens to be the same color as the thread you plan to quilt with - that way, your bobbin and top thread can match or at least be in the same family.

Unfortunately, the piecer does not normally think about the thread and the backing - their concern is, quite naturally, the quilt top they spent days/weeks piecing.

You do have to play with the tension to get it right; some threads more than others. I love King Tut, but it requires more adjusting than any other thread I use.

I have an embroidered quilt on my machine now. The front has embroidered blocks with white background, the sashing is an aqua print, and the back is pieced - two sides are pink flannel with multi-color dots and the center is the aqua print from the front. If I use white on my echo-quilting in the embroidered blocks, and aqua in the bobbin (to match the back), if my tension is not perfect, I will see aqua pokeys in the embroidered white blocks. This embroidered fabric is a very open-weave, almost flimsy, and like I said, WHITE.

My solution was to put down a layer of Warm & Natural cotton next to the backing, then put the Warm & Natural poly that the customer wanted on top of the cotton batt and then the quilt top on top of those 2 batts. So looking at it from the edge, it is

quilt top

poly batt

cotton batt

backing

So far it is working for me. This is a baby quilt, though. I don't think this solution would work on a queen size, you'de need a lot of muscle just to tote it around.

I've heard of some quilters using Hobbs batts with a poly batt, not sure if pokeys is the reason though. This is what my aqua bobbin thread looks like on the baby quilt.

You can't see the aqua bobbin thread, can you? (That blue stuff is the ink bleeding off the embroidery pattern...a different problem. )

One solution, I'm sure there are other ideas out there. Care to share?