ConnieW Posted September 19, 2005 Report Share Posted September 19, 2005 Here's my problem: I am quilting a king size top for a customer and I am 90% finished when the thread began to break. Because the spool was nearly out anyway I contacted customer and asked if she would get another spool which she did. After loading it this morning, now it also breaks. Thinking it was my machine, I changed needles (twice) and re-threaded (many times) without helping. Then I changed to monofilament thread and also to a dark green thread I have on hand - both will sew with no breakage, but when I tried the new spool once again it still breaks. I have spritzed the spool and put it in my freezer. It is a deep wine colored 30 wt. cotton. I have checked everywhere for burrs but can't find any, I've sprayed the bobbin case & hook area with canned air. The only thing I can think of is the new spool is "bad". Has this happened to anyone else, and can anyone offer me any suggestions? To get another spool of this thread would require a commute to a town 30 miles away so I hate to ask the customer to make another trip unless it's absolutely necessary. TIA! Connie W Millennium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thequiltqueen Posted September 19, 2005 Report Share Posted September 19, 2005 Have you tried breaking the thread with your hands? If you can do this easily the thread is bad. I have had it happen to me before where I quilted almost a whole quilt with a spool of thread that suddenly caused me problems. After much thread breakage and aggravation I limped along and finished the quilt. The "customer" was my mother and she wanted some of the exact same thread to hand stitch her binding with so I wound some onto a cardboard bobbin for her. As I was winding I noticed that every few inches there was a kink in the thread! It was as if it had been twisted while being wound onto the spool and as the tension of being on the spool was released it allowed the slack thread to kink up. This went on and on as I wound the cardboard bobbin. It was obviously a bad spool of thread but nothing was visible until I wound it by hand! These kinks were large enough that they never would have been able to pass through the eye of the needle and that is apparently what my problem was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieW Posted September 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2005 Deanna: Thanks for your reply. After checking the thread as you suggested for kinks, I could find nothing irregular, even when looking at it through a magnifier. It looks & feels smooth. I reloaded the spool and made a few more attempts at it. The thread does not break if I make single stitches or use the manual mode on an extremely slow stitch, but it broke immediately when I tried to stitch at normal speed, and I tried x3. This is really frustrating. I guess I'll put the spool back in the freezer and try tonight or morning. Connie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barlowmic Posted September 19, 2005 Report Share Posted September 19, 2005 Deanna: I'm a lurker and newbie so take this for what it is, just a thought. I had a friend's quilt of which she supplied the thread and it was varigated wine to black. It did the same thing, only when I got to the black and I did the same as you've done to no avail. What I got to work was tying a very small piece of batting onto the thread guide after the tension disc before the needle. I put a spritz of silicon spray on that batting and the thread ran over it on the way to the needle. It coated the thread and no more breaks. It allowed me to finish the quilt. Hope it helps. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieW Posted September 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2005 Michelle: I appreciate your posting a suggestion which I did try. I put some batting on both thread guides, unfortunately it did not help. I don't have any silicon spray, need to get some. I left a voice mail for Connie @ APQS this afternoon but haven't heard back yet. I have three other spools of dark wine thread in my collection, two different brands, and all three spools will work on my machine. Unfortunately, they don't match the customer's thread. I left her a voice mail a few minutes ago to tell her the bad news that we have to find some kind of solution. Her thread definitely has to be bad if all the others but hers will work. Today I feel sad :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:( I had really hoped to finish her quilt today. Connie W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted September 19, 2005 Report Share Posted September 19, 2005 Hi Connie, I know you don't want to hear this...but if all the other threads are working and not that one spool....I'd say that is a bad spool or cone. Even though it is new, you can get a bad one. But if there was something wrong with the machine, it would be happening with everything else that you are using. I would try and get another one and even contact the company that you got it from and see if they will help you out with that. Hope this helps. Take care, Mark APQS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieW Posted September 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2005 Mark, Hey there - thanks for writing to me. My customer is going to the quilt shop tomorrow to check on thread and get back to me. Surely we will solve this soon and I can deliver a completed quilt to her satisfaction. Connie W:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connie hurst Posted September 20, 2005 Report Share Posted September 20, 2005 Hi Connie, Did you get things figured out? Sorry, I was at the Doctor yesterday afternoon! If you still need help, call me today! Mark is totally correct though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieW Posted September 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2005 Hi, Connie I think Mark's diagnosis is correct. The customer is going to bring me some new thread to try. The other time I had breakage problem was with this same brand of thread, it's a good brand with good quality thread, I just don't think it likes being used in my machine, and I am not positive that it's meant to be used for longarm machines. Thanks for your post here. If anything else comes up with the new thread I'll be screaming so loud that I'm sure you'll hear me without the phone! HA HA HA :D :D Keeping my fingers crossed here! Connie W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conquilts Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Hi Connie One thing I haven't seen mentioned to try - is to turn the spool/cone up the other way? To discover which way to pop my thread on the stand I always do the following test.... Sit the spool/cone on your table. Grab the end of the thread between your thumb & finger of one hand and pull about 10 inches off the spool/cone. Then grab the thread close to the spool/cone using your other hand (between thumb & finger) and lift the thread so that it forms a U shape with your hands nearly touching. IF the thread naturally twists together then turn the spool/cone over & repeat with a fresh length of thread. The U of the thread should NOT twist together but hang naturally in the shape of a U. When the thread does this , you have found the correct orientation of your spool/cone of thread. Have a go & see what you find?? It all depends on how the spool/cone has been wound in the fiirst place.... Goodluck & keep us posted on what your fix is?? Tracey Browning www.constantinequilts.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnnHoffman Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 MR40 singer needles work. I tried to use others and they worked for a while then all of a sudden, thread break after thread break. Switched back to Singer and no problem. Black or dark thread is weaker than white or light colors because of the amount of dye used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smorris Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Hi Connie Another thing to check would be that since it is a spool designed for domestic machines, it might have serrated edges top and bottom and the thread could be catching on them. are you running the thread from a horizontal spool holder or from the back of the machine vertically? It maybe that it is catching if you are running it off vertically. Sue in Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieW Posted September 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Hello to Tracey, JoAnn, and Sue Thanks to each one of you for your posts to my message. I had turned the spools over and that made no difference. The tops were not serrated, so that wasn't causing it. I did, however, rewind the thread from one nearly used-up spool onto a different spool with a fat core that I had on hand to see if it would help, but it didn't. I'm running the thread from the back of the machine vertically. Getting a horizontal holder would be a good idea. When I got my Millie I did get a Hartley spool attachment but I haven't tried it out yet. I didn't know about the thread test that Tracey explained and I really appreciate learning about that, thanks for the heads-up. I use only Singer 4.0 needles. So...here's the end of the story. My customer drove back to the quilt shop and bought the last three spools of the matching thread. I asked her to stay with me while I tested them. The first spool broke immediately after stitching less than 2 inches. The second spool actually sewed. I was afraid to trust it but I did manage to limp along and finish the quilt with that spool. It did break a few times but I managed with it. This morning I unloaded the quilt and my customer came and picked it up, quite satisfied and has placed an order for me to do four more quilts. This afternoon I loaded and completed a small wall hanging quilt for another customer and had no thread problems whatsoever. I noticed a huge difference in the strength and the weight of that thread vs the one that was breaking. I have learned that not all threads are suitable and will be extra careful in the future. I appreciate all the posts and words of advice & encouragement. Thank you to each one of you! It's great to know that there is a support group within the APQS longarm quilting family - hats off to you all! Connie W APQS Millennium Southwestern Indiana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltaholi_518 Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Ugghhhh! Nothing worse than a mystery problem! I have used some small spools of cotton like Mettler or Guterman, and Gutterman always seems to give me fits. If someone brings me thread, I pull off a good long length and pull it through my thumb and forefinger, and if I feel any little nubs, I will not use it. I think those threads are not "long Staple" and the shorter fibers do not bond as nicely together. But I have So Fine in almost every color and I use it almost exclusively. I always ask people "Do you want to see the quilting...... or the thread?" Thread can be very distracting:o in my opinion unless it is meant to be part of the overall design. Just my .02! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltjunkie Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Domestic thread is not made to use on LA's, if you happen to get "lucky" and are able to use this type of thread, that's exatly what you are, "LUCKY". There are a lot of threads sold for LA's that won't work and I request that my customers don't bring thread. I have a large selection of thread but very rarely do they even care what I use, they let me choose. I have had the same experiance Connie did when the custormer supplies the thread and you just can't charge for the time spent ripping and resewing the same spot several times. If they insist on bringing their own they have been forewarned of the consequences and I can't take responsibilty for numerous stops and starts that will occur. I do the same with batting choices if they insist on bring their own, they get the warning speech. This sets the expectations at the right level and takes a lot of stress off me. Just a suggestion for future situations.... Hester:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andriko Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 just a thought from a newbie - this experience comes from the embroidery part in my life. My 200e dislikes a certain brand. Guess how I know. But I found a way to work around a bit by placing the treadcone about 2 meters from the machine and let the thread app. 3 mtr. go until it got sewn. I don't know why it worked but I could finish that colourpart. Slowing down the machine speed and using sewers aid has helped too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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