Janome 6600 tension
 

Hi, I just bought my 6600 yesterday and had no tension problems with the demo at the store but now at home on my new machine I am having issues. I can't get perfect stitches. It's either needle thread showing or bobbin thread showing. Sometime I can see both showing.
I have rethreaded and redone the bobbin a million times. I have changed needles, thread, tension. Not sure the problem. I keep reading that you shouldn't have to mess with the tension on this machine...
Help???

I think the 6600 has a built in feature called "Hee hee hee ... new user, let's screw with her head!". Seriously.

We use them at the shops and they are wonderfully behaved creatures. They purr under our fingers and whisper sweet nothings into our ears. Then we take them home and they behave like 9 year old boys who won't go to bed when told. I've heard it a lot with folks that have the 6600.

Until one day ... all of a sudden a bell goes off and they behave and everything runs smoothly and we all live happily ever after. I seriously don't know how to explain it, but I've seen it, I've heard it, I believe it.

First question ... are you using the exact same thread you were using in the store? I've noticed 6600's can get a little fussy about what we feed them. Also, when you were at the shop were you using regular quilting cotton - or that stiff stuff that sewing shops always use to demo machines?

Other things: Are you sure you have it threaded correctly (are you using the extending arm at the top left to travel thread through)? Are you using different thread weight in the top and bottom - if so this alone could be a problem.

keep working with the machine, If it's like I suspect - one day it will "let" you like it.

have you tried a different thread, I have heard some of the janomes are picky about their thread

Ditto to what DHMom has said .... with you having problems so quickly and soon, eat some humble pie and go back to your dealer and let them help you thru it. If there is something wrong with the machine, they can spot that. If it's something you are doing wrong, they'll help you understand what makes the difference.

It's not worth messing around and getting yourself frustrated ... better to go back there and let them help you figure it all out!

I got my 6600 almost a year ago ... and took it out of the box, and started to sew. No problems with it then. Since, the only problems I have had have been due to operator error .... the machine has been well behaved! :)

I've never had a moments trouble with the 6600 that I didn't cause myself. It handles any thread I throw at it, but I stay away from the linty stuff because of the build up. Definitely let your dealer know what you are experiencing. I'm sure it is something simple.

There is an excellent 6600 yahoogroups list

I've never owned anything but New Home/Janome machines and they aren't thread snobs

Thanks everyone. Talked with dealer, he went over threading and thread choice over phone. I am doing that correctly. I am wondering if I am being too picky?? He said that when sewing 2 cottons together (no batting) I am going to see small dots of the top thread on the bottom and vise versa. Is this correct? I always thought it was my old crappy machine that caused this and the 6600 would correct the issue.
I am really hoping to be able to quilt with contrasting top and bottom thread without seeing either on the wrong side...
I have a class on Monday so hopefully that will help me become more familiar with the machine.

Can you go in, before then, for some one on one so you can enjoy your machine and feel good about it before you go on Monday??

It's good you are going for your lesson is so soon. At least you don't have to wait too long to hopefully get some solutions. Though if you can arrange the sooner, it would be nice, as above.

When you are sewing two pieces of cotton together with nothing fancy (as you would for seams), you should be able to sew with the threads meeting in the middle of the two pieces. If your dealer is telling you otherwise, I'd wonder two things ... either s/he doesn't know their stuff OR s/he has misunderstood your problem and questions.

Here's a suggestion ...
First, turn your machine off and walk away from it for today.
Later tonight or tomorrow, go back and start fresh.
Take spool and bobbin off/out and re-thread totally. Even wind a new bobbin. Maybe even start with a brand new spool of thread.

Then use two different colours of the same thread for bobbin and spool with your fabric. Have good contrast between the three so that you can easily spot what is going on. The fabric is ideal if it's a plain and white/pastel so your writing will show. Write on the fabric the brand/weight of your threads. Set the thread tension dial to 3.

Do some rows of stitching on two layers of the fabric. Mark on the fabric with a pen/marker the tension setting. Check how the threads are meeting up. Too high? Too low? middle?

Refer to your manual which will tell you how to adjust the tension so that the threads meet in the middle.

More rows of stitching and label again. Check.

Continue on ... and hopefully you will make some progress.

Then take the samples into your dealer to discuss.

I am a new 6600 owner too (got mine just a couple months ago) and so far my darling handles whatever thread and fabric I throw at it - mine is definitely no diva! I don't really know but it sounds logical to me that you might see little dots on both sides when sewing 2 thin layers together. There's no place for the stitches to hide where they meet if you don't have any bulk there. Maybe a more tightly woven fabric would help hide where the stitches meet? I'm at work so I can't test mine (I generally do tension tests on little mini quilt sandwiches so I haven't seen this) but maybe I'll give it a try tonight with contrasting thread on just a couple layers of cotton and see what I get on mine. I'm curious now!