HELP-- Viking Sapphire 850 woes

[Melissa S.]

Hi Everyone, I've been having a horrible time with freemotion quilting on my Sapphire. I'm ready to drop-kick the thing off the roof. Now, I have to say, I've been a viking girl for a long time (sapphire is my 3rd Viking). I love the machine for piecing, and also love it for putting together projects using thick fusible fleece. It just motors through lots of layers of thick material with no problem. the problem is the freemotion quilting. The top thread gets wrapped around the feed dog and jams up. At first I thought it was just King Tut thread (which did it every time, no matter what one I used, which stinks because I happen to love that thread) but it now does it with all threads. I'm not sure if it's a tension issue or what. sometimes I can't get the tension set properly (and I've been freemotioning for over 10 years, so I don't think it's me haha), but it jams no matter if the tension looks perfect or not. It's really driving me nuts and taking all the fun out of the quilting. I'm debating going to Bernina, but I love the large harp with the sapphire. I've been on the internet and I can't find anyone else with this same problem. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks! Melissa

[Damaris E.]

Melissa, I have the same machine. I kind of struggled with this too. Tension and thread, "nests", every time I tried to free motion quilt, I had to finally have the dealer help me. Good luck, I will keep watching this thread to see if you get other suggestions!! OH!! But I love my Sapphire, it sews and pieces like a dream!!

[Melissa S.]

Thanks DE. It's not nesting though, it's hard to describe, but the thread loops around the tip of the right feed dog and I can't move the quilt. It gets a huge knot from sewing in place. Very strange and very frustrating. I'm thinking I may just take it to the dealer jammed up and see what they say. I really do love it for piecing and I want to love it for machine quilting as well.

[karen f.]

Hey Melissa, I don't have the same machine as you but I'm anxious to hear what you find out. I have the husqvarna viking quilt designer and have had what I think is the same problem you described. It's going along fine and then for some reason the quilt won't move and I can't even get it off the machine without cutting away the tight ball of thread that is keeping it very close to the feed dogs. Once I had to cut a hole in what I was working on and was so glad it was only practice. It worrys me now when I'm sewing on a real piece though. Karen

[karen f.]

I have the Sapphire 850 and have experienced this too. Mine will hesitate and stitch in place until I give a yank and then we're off again. There will be a little loop on the back side. Wierd! I wonder if they'd help you at the dealer. I wonder if switching to a single hole throat plate would help. I might try that myself.

Otherwise, I love this machine SO MUCH!!!! I have found that I prefer to quilt using my walking foot and not free motion. With the large sewing area of this machine, I can meander a bit and make wavey lines, but everything is much smoother and more even since I'm using the walking foot. Try that!

Nancy in BRRRR NY

[Pamela O.]

I have a separate bobbin case that I had my technician adjust for free motion quilting. I was having trouble when I used Rainbow in the needle and BottomLine in the bobbin.

I use MasterPiece in the bobbin when I use a Rainbow in the needle. It helps to grab the thread--a nice lady at Superior gave me that tip. I use the regular bobbin case and adjust my thread tension upward until I get a good stitch on both sides.

I've had the take up lever adjusted several times because the thread would jump out and catch on the bottom or not make stitches. I now loop the thread from left to right over the takeup lever. The thread forms a loop and it works for me. (Normally you do right to left.)

I love my Sapphire.

[Pamela O.]

Ladies! I have been free-motion quilting on my 850 with NO problems at all!! I LEFT THE FEED DOGS UP!! I know it sounds wierd, but with the free motion foot bobbing up and down, it's easy to move around and maybe I have even a little more control. I used many different threads and none were better than others.

Yea!! Try it!!

Nancy in sunny but cold western NY

[Pamela O.]

I'm making a bag for my daughter. It's out of home-dec fabric, so sort of thick and coarse. She wanted the handles folded and reinforced. I think it ended up being about 6 layers thick.

It refused to sew! The top thread kept leaving huge loops around the bobbin and the bobbin wasn't engaging! I trying a couple of different settings, tried using the walking foot and that plastic thing that you hold under the pressure foot. Didn't matter!

Finally resorted to pulling out the 1970's Singer Touch and Sew that I still have just for this type of problem. Sometimes the old mechanical $150 machine does the job better than the $1,500 computerized one! Frustrating!!!! But in the end, the handles look beautiful.

Nancy in BRRRRRR western NY

[Paula D.]

I'm a Bernina girl, and I'm about to quilt with Superior Rainbows. I usually would use Bottom Line in the bobbin, so thanks for the info about using Masterpiece instead. I'll check that out. Thx.