redhotmama Posted April 6, 2016 Report Share Posted April 6, 2016 Don't judge me, but I'm doing a quilt with lots of color amid white piecing. I've done all the color. I wanted to quilt the white with white top and bottom thread. The back of the quilt is dark blue minkee. Some of the blue is showing through up in the top holes, looks like blue tufts. Is it my tension? Or should I not do the white thread? I've done minkee alot and never had a problem before. Top thread I'm using is King Tut, I also tried So Fine. Bottom thread is So Fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zora Posted April 7, 2016 Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Your cotton thead is likely grabbing the minky and pulling it to the top. You will have better luck with a very slick thread like Glide or Magnifico. Using cotton batting magnifies the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cagey Posted April 7, 2016 Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Red Hot Do you think your stitches will settle to the center better once the quilt sandwich is removed from the frame? Also I found this early today and it might help you once you wash the quilt top. What are “pokies”? This term usually refers to small bits of batting fibers appearing on the back of the quilt during the quilting process. This is most common with cotton or cotton blend battings and the bits on the back will wash away during laundering. Occasionally seen during the long arm quilting process, it is most often a result of an oversized needle or a needle that has a slight burr that is not visible to the eye. Changing the machine needle will usually correct the issue. Thread choice can also be a factor. Cotton is a dry fiber and occasionally cotton threads will pull at the cotton batting fibers during the quilting process. Changing to a polyester thread can alleviate the problem. Using high quality thread is very important to successful machine quilting. Lower quality threads generate a great deal of lint and break easily at the high speeds used in machine stitching. Maybe if you change your needle and needle size to a smaller one it might help. I have not idea if this will work though, but it cannot hurt to try. A recent national teacher class I took shared with the secret that when those different colored threads pock through on the top or bottom, to use a fabric marker to simply color them away. I am not sure how that would work on the white though. She said some competition quilters did not like her sharing that secret with her students. It seems everyone does it, though I had never heard of it before taking the class. Best of luck to you. Let us know how you make things work out. Cagey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhotmama Posted April 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Oh thank you both so very much! I think all of your comments are in the zone! I have one package of 3.5 needles, will try that and some white Bottom Line on the top. If that doesn't work I'll change the threads to a darker blue. When I assumed the colorful parts of the quilt my top thread was Rainbows abs i had none of this then. My batting is QD cotton/poly so that should be OK. I think the main problem lies in that this minkee has fiber tufts on the back of it. I've not seen that before. I'm starting to see much different quality in minkee than I used to. I use minkee for baby and cuddle quilts. This one is a wedding/cuddle quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhotmama Posted April 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Cagey and Zora, much much better. Thank you again! If I had a smaller needle, I bet it would be gone. Hope I can help somebody else sometime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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