Problem with free motion thread work.

[Hannelore N.]

I am doing an art quit with one layer cotton, 1 layer lightweight interfacing and 1 layer med weight muslin. Some of the fabric has been sprayed with 505 to hold it in place.The cotton has also been painted with Shisadeo (sp?) paints. I am trying to do my sky and as soon as I start to curve around and sew backwards my upper thread won't catch with the lower bobbin thread. It's only good going forwards. Feed dogs are down, open toe embroidery foot is on. I have tried changing needles, changing thread, cleaning out the machine. Could it be from the 505? It was sewing along nicely then all of a sudden decided it didn't want to do it. Any ideas on what's happening and why? As soon as I finish this I have a twin quilt to quilt and now I'm thinking my machine may not want to do that either~! :cry: I was on such a roll and it's so frustrating. Help?

[Hannelore N.]

It could be the 505, in combination with the interfacing, but also consider this: If you are having the problem when sewing right to left, it could be needle deflection. I often have a problem with this, and it took me a long time to figure it out. That is not the "normal" direction for the machine to sew, and the needle can be slightly bent as it goes through the moving fabric. When that happpens, the needle comes down on the wrong side of the thread as it makes a stitch, or splits the thread, causing it to shred. Anyway, this is how a machine repairman explained it to me. When the needle comes out of the fabric, does the thread have a loop at the eye of the needle, like it made a half knot? (don't know if my description makes any sense)
Another thought: does your embroidery foot hold the fabric closely to the machine bed, or does it allow it to "pop up" a bit. If the fabric is not held firmly, it may follow the needle back up as it comes out of the fabric. Just a couple of things to consider, for what it's worth. (My 2 cents worth may not be worth 2 cents <vbg&gt

[Cheryl K.]

Really good tips on sidewise stitching Elseif. It seems to make sense. For me, another tip was slowing down my hands. The speed that I move the quilt plays a big part in how my needle behaves and how long it lasts for freeform stitching. I was WAY TOO FAST for a long time.

[Cheryl K.]

Hmm, the needle deflection thing sounds kind of familiar, yes it does look like that sometimes. So is there a fix for this?? It doesn't happen all the time but when it does, I have to quit. Regular sewing works just fine right now. I did try going backwards slowly and it still did the same thing. I'm thinking I may just take the machine in for a tune up as it was last done in the late fall and it gets a lot of sewing! I'm very tempted to just have a machine for freemotion sewing only, but really don't know what I'd look for besides room underneath to change needles, and feet, plus just manouvering.

[Betty J.]

My two cents..some things to check are for correct tension (is it too tight or even too loose?) and changing the needle for a little heavier one (I really really like 14 or 16 size titanium needles). If you are using a lightweight needle, it may be doing as Elsie suggested, and the needle change and loosening the tension may help that. I set up my machine with a supreme slider and set the tension about 2.5 (a little over half the normal). Hope this helps. Cheers, BJ

[Susan B.]

Is this a new problem? Have you changed types of threads? Sometimes just a new needle, cleaning the machine, & re-threading may help. The other thing that occurs to me is sometimes, needles can be bad out of the package. (per Bob the Thread Guy)

[Cheryl K.]

Hmm, the needle deflection thing sounds kind of familiar, yes it does look like that sometimes. So is there a fix for this?? It doesn't happen all the time but when it does, I have to quit. Regular sewing works just fine right now. I did try going backwards slowly and it still did the same thing. I'm thinking I may just take the machine in for a tune up as it was last done in the late fall and it gets a lot of sewing! I'm very tempted to just have a machine for freemotion sewing only, but really don't know what I'd look for besides room underneath to change needles, and feet, plus just manouvering.

The tune up idea is a good one, especially if you do a lot of sewing. I've seen your profile pics...neat! I did get a separate machine for quilting (HQ sit-down) to save the wear and tear on my 200/730. Then I got an Aurora 450 to wear and tear from embroidery on same machine..... :roll: The HQ is a tank...love it. 450 the same, in a different way.

[Cheryl K.]

Go figure, I sat down today with a practice quilt sandwich and the stupid machine worked like a charm. It must have realized that I was ready to trade it in!! I'll see how it does tomorrow when I attempt to quilt a twin bed quilt before I go back to the art quilts. Thanks for the great ideas.