bought new machine, having trouble with cotton thr

[Nancy R.]

:sick: I thought I got good stitches with my new Viking Opal 690 Q when I test drove it. Now I am making a wall quilt with 3 inch borders and I am a beginner so I was doing loop de loop. Someone suggested a 40 wt cotton variegated thread. I started it and now have to finish it with that but it doesn't make a nice stitch no matter how low I put the top tension. On a sample today a 40 wt polyester thread does a nice stitch (with the same thread in the bobbin, so the color is uniform which makes the stitches look better, with a tension of 2.4. I am using a summer weight thin batting and batiks. I switched the needle at the same time. Somehow I think a topstitch needle might help because of the eye, but I think I am using a 90 quilting needle. I am needing some tips to help my quilting.


S

[Judith A.]

Hi Jan,
I am unfamiliar with Vikings, so I can't help you with that.
I can suggest that you watch the free-motion instruction video on the TQS website.
You can find it under the "Watch" tab at the top of the page.
Select "Featured Guest DVD's. It looks very useful to beginning free-motion stitchers.

In my experience, t takes time and lots of practice to become really good at free-motion stitching.
Always test your thread and free-motion stitching on a sample of the same fabric, batting, thread and machine settings, before stitching on your main quilt project.
Stick with it. You can do it!

Judy

[Jennifer D.]

I have found that no matter how balanced my tension, if I move too fast when free motion quilting (in comparison to my needle speed), my tension is off. It has taken many years to improve this....and I'm still not that good. :blink: Try increasing your needle speed or decreasing the speed you move your sandwich and see if this helps

[Jennifer D.]

Also...check your thread...I have had the misfortune to purchase a "problematic spool". No matter what I did, it never unwound correctly. The exact same settings would work perfectly for a different color thread of the same weight. I tossed this spool and didn't look back (it was top quality thread, and I have purchased the same brand again multiple times with no issue) but have been told I should have contacted the company as they would have sent a replacement

[Jennifer D.]

Taking a class in free motion with David Taylor they gave us machines and I was all tight and slow. He said he gets up and does a sample and if it screws up he makes brownies and takes the day off.

[Jennifer D.]

So with all the thread selection, I still will have to put in the time to get synced with the higher speed and slower motion. Thanks for the reality that it takes time.

[Jennifer D.]

Now I know to buy extra fabric to make a sandwich and practice before starting on my real project.

[Jennifer D.]

I have been trying different threads, fusible batting and even put st abilizer under the fusible batting which seemed to help. I have a Kaffe Fassett material with a vase of flowers. It is perfect for thread painting the flowers, some kind of Mc tavishing in the cameo background. The stitches are not always beautiful, I think the timing is important as was said here. Go slow for control worked but faster didn't look as good. I think the tension needs to be lowered on top when I go faster.

Last time if worked with the default tension, I was using 100 wt cotton embroidery thread on top and the same color thread in the bottom and a stretch needle, go figure. It was smooth not sharp on the tip. I just bought Joann's Gutermann thread to have enough colors to do the Kaffe project. I think it is 50 wt. Higher wt or thinner threads may be necessary for this machine. I've had the top tension at 0 or the default is 4.6

[Jennifer D.]

So speed or thin thread helped. Same color in the bobbin. Although maybe Gutermann is not so hot because even trying a special stitch with Gutermann in the bobbin on a piece of cotton quilting cloth with stabilizer on the back at the default tension it pulled the bobbin thread up. My old machine never had tension problems with the built in stitches on this same sample of cloth.

[Jennifer D.]

hi, Thanks for the slower motion with faster needle idea. I will from there try to get uniform stitches. Thanks also for the idea to watch the videos here. I did do that