hlponyfarm

I am trying to finish my very first quilt for my sister. she is visiting March 29th (her birthday). I made a charm square quilt. alternating between flowered print and black squares. I thought cause I have this nifty machine that does decorative stitches that I would do a decorative stitch around each black square to quilt it. well wouldnt you know that something under the feed dogs happened and jammed the thread causing the stitch to become shorter and shorter till it grabbed the material. Had to cut out the threads to get the quilt loose. then had to stitch rip the decorative stiching out. Have you ever had to rip out machine made decorative stitching!!!!!! never again. for a 5" long it took me over an hour! Please remind me when I have these bright ideas about this day. LOL
Of course on the bright side, at least it was only 5 inches. and not 25 blocks.

Connie in CO

I know how your feeling,I've had to do that more than once.What a big pain in the neck.Connie in CO

DogHouseMom

Yes in fact I have!! Have you ever tried to rip out machine quilted decorative metallic thread stitches? Now there's a lesson in "what were you thinking?"

SEW

been there...done that...will probably do again!

clem55

Oh yes!! And believe me, with my eyes that is a real trick! But, I'll do it again simply because it looks so darn pretty when finished.

sandyquilts

Next time use a stablizier under the decorative stitch. It can be a tear away type. That helps to keep the decorative stitch balanced. sorry .. froggin' is not fun.

belmer

When you use decorative stitches, you need to use a stabelizer under the fabric or individual blocks. I am wondering if you were doing decorative stitches after you sandwitched your quilt? If so:could this be part of the problem with jammed up thread and fabric?

hlponyfarm

Yes I was. I was using the decorative stitches as the quiliting for the quilt. just going around each black block. I didnt know I had to use stabilizer with it. exactly how can i do that if the quilt is sandwiched?
I think I will try this again on each block before piecing the block together for a quilt. and not use the stitch for quilting.

hlponyfarm

Just had to send machine back to the shop this am. I took the cover off the feed dogs to clean it out. chopped up thread etc. slide the cutter back. when I went to put the screws back in, one fell deep into the machine. ugh I could not get it out. tipped machine to get a better hold of it and it disappeared.
sigh, sometimes I feel like it was just a waste of time getting out of bed.

sandyquilts

[quote=hlponyfarm]Tear away stablizier ....... it's gone totally gone. You might have to sprits it with a little water to completely remove it.