PaperPrincess

I also think the decorative stitch may be an issue. Because decorative stitches go back & forth & side to side, your walking foot may not be able to keep up. Not all stitches are appropriate for quilting. The poly batting allows more shifting than cotton. You can also try to reduce your presser foot pressure.

sval

The stitch I am using is under the category of "Quilting Stitches". So silly me, just assumed that meant to use when quilting.
I have tried everything. Reduced the pressure, made it harder. Rethreaded, rewound, cleaned it. You name it. It is a Janome 12000 Memory Craft. So for what it's worth it should be a fabulous machine to use. Well, it isn't. Give me an old fashioned machine like my Featherweight any day for great stitch and tension. Unfortunately I've not been able to get it to quilt.

I like to use the so called quilting stitches instead of SITD because they allow room for error. Also, they add a little something on a kids quilt.

I've also noticed through all this that the stitch doesn't look so great on the back. Which indicates to me that the upper thread tension is off. Is that right?

PatPitter

Have you tried that stitch without the walking foot?

barking-rabbit

I was told no walking foot for decoratives also to stabilize the stitches.

sval

I'm doing this through the quilt sandwich. Would I need a stabilizer then? It's in the Quilting Stitches category.

PaperPrincess

Interesting. I have a TOL Viking with a quilting stitch menu. It has dozens of options, but I've never thought about using them to actually quilt the quilt. I use them when piecing a crazy quilt, or add embellishments to a top before quilting. The only stitches I've used to actually quilt with are a blanket stitch, feather stitch or straight stitch.
Stitches where the needle is moving, but the sandwich is just advancing forward. With some of the really ornate stitches, the fabric is actually moved forward & backward & side to side. If I were to try these on a sandwich, I would pin really close together, on either side of the stitching line , creating a path that would be as narrow as possible to accommodate the foot. Basically securing the sandwich really well so that there was no opportunity for shifting. I would position the pins so they would not need to be removed until the stitching was done.

Right now, I would try the stitch on plain fabric first to make sure that it stitches OK, then try a sandwich with cotton batting, something that doesn't shift or slide like poly or even fleece. Wash away or tear away stabilizer might be a good thing to use. Another thing to try would be to make sure that there is no tension at all on the sandwich so that the walking foot has a chance to do its thing.

Jim's Gem

When I use my walking foot, it is for straight stitches only. I don't think you are supposed to use them for any stitch that makes it go "backwards" In that case your feed dogs go backwards but the walking foot moves the top fabric forward. I have a favorite stitch that I used to use all the time but did not use the WF cause there was a circle in the stitch, therefore it had to stitch going the "backwards" direction.

gram2five

I had the same problem using a decorative stitch with my walking foot. Switched over to the satin stich foot, and no more problems. I was using poly batting also, and the sandwich seemed to feed thru better with the satin stich foot on.

ckcowl

The pressure on the foot is probably too much for the sandwich, when using decorative stitches some machines (auto-adjust) the foot pressure, to hold the fabric tighter while stitching, this would be too much for multiple layers or a quilt sandwich. Get your manual out & see if you can lessen the foot pressure. If you can not you might want to switch to a hopping foot

sarahelloyd

I don't know the answer because I too have had that problem on my Bernina, my bet would be if you have a spare bit of backing fabric you could add on each side, and join in a little batting, or to trim down the boders slightly if you have them. You may feel it has failed but the baby will end up with a treasured gift. So much better than a bought toy or whatever. Please don't fret just go with it. It happened on my Dear Jane and nobody can tell now. It may help in future to use a spray on adhesive like the 505 spray...