tracyv Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Just finished a king sized t-shirt quilt on my Millie with IQ. The t-shirts were backed with French Fuse tricot interfacing. When I started I got quite a few skipped stitches. Blew everything out, oiled, re-threaded, changed the needle (using a 4.0), and rotated the needle slightly. Also slowed down IQ quite a bit. Helped, but there were probably 10 spots where there were a few sporadic skipped stitches. Nothing that I couldn't fix, but I am wondering if a different needle size might have made a difference. This was my first t-shirt quilt with IQ, I might just be paranoid! Suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandmaLKB Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 I just finished a t-shirt quilt and used a 4.0 needle with So Fine thread on top and the fil tec magnetic bobbins (classic) in the bottom. I did an all over freehand - no IQ. Didn't have any problems at all. Did you use a batting? I had a thin poly batting with cotton fabric backing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 If your skipped stitches were on the t-shirt areas, perhaps the thickness of the interfacing/the print on the shirts/batting/backer caused the needle to flex enough for the hook to miss the bobbin thread. Were the skipped areas directional or isolated on certain areas? With these fused quilts you may need an even larger needle rather than a smaller one to control the flex--and unfortunately fused fabric is unforgiving when you need to frog. Holes don't close up and any stitching holes on "paint" type t-shirts are there for good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracyv Posted February 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 80/20 batting. I have done many t-shirt quilts freehand, and have never had skipped stitches. Bottom line in the bobbin, variegated cotton on top. Tension was fine otherwise. I do think that I probably had the backing a bit tighter than I usually do, I have read that IQ runs well that way. Maybe I am wrong? Skipped stitches were in the t-shirt areas. Talked to another machine quilter in our area, and she suggested using a smaller needle --- but I didn't have any, so I stuck with 4.0. Next time I will try a larger one. And luckily, none of the skipped stitches were in the "paint" areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustSewSimple Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 I use a 3.5 needle and have never had an issue. I have probably done 40 T-shirt quilts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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