Does speed kill thread tension?

[Melissa T.]

I am (new to it) practicing FMQ with my new Handi Quilter Sweet 16 (no stitch regulation) and am happy most of the time with my ability to get stitches of the same length and balanced tension. My question is if my upper and lower tension is playing happily at 35% speed and I move the speed up considerably (to 50% for example) will that affect my thread tension? I tried the faster speed like this the other day and the results were not good. The top thread looked OK, but the bobbin thread was just "laying" on the bottom of the quilt (held in place by top thread but certainly not a properly balanced and integrated stitch). At least it came out easily! Looks like I need to make the time to attend the dealer offered class that came with the purchase of my machine. :wink:

Your assistance is much appreciated.
Melissa in Kansas City KS

[Kathryn S.]

Melissa, I have a Sweet Sixteen sit down, and I generally run mine at around 25-30%. when I go higher things seem to go too quickly and I can't control stitch length and placement. Wouldn't be surprised if the higher speed plays havoc with the tension too. I know someone who quilts at 70%- she does sort of straight lines back and forth to do a type of thread painting. She also uses very heavy thread.

It's probably a matter of adjusting your tensions to match your desired quilting speed.

Kathy

[LINDA T.]

It shouldn't matter. I vary the speed all the time as I quilt, slower for micro stippling type work and faster for say feathers and I don't notice any difference. Was the testing done on the same fabric/batting sample? If not then it had nothing to do with the speed....fabrics and thread all play into the tension situation as does batting. Linda T.

[Susan B.]

When my dealer set up my sweet sixteen, she told me that when I was ready to test the tension, to "let it rip" meaning, go fast and do lots of swirls and turn arounds. That's for adjusting tensions, doesn't mean you have to do that for quilting. Slower quilting may be masking an out of balance tension.

[Susan B.]

Speed can affect the tension when it is uneven speed in changing directions. Though it's more of a slight needle deflection issue. that's why you can sometimes see tension issues in a particular area of a design, say the loop end of feathers. Using a bigger needle can help as can being aware of the change in speed for certain motions and trying to adjust the speed in those spots.