I am attempting to machine quilt a wall hanging for my father for fathers day...I have taken a class but have never tried after that..

I am practicing and the front of the practice piece looks great, but the back is VERY loopy and loose... I'm soooo lost, i obviously can't quilt the real one the way the practices are coming out...

Thoughts???

If you have loops on the back, then your top tension is off. It is too loose. Just to make sure, i would thread the machine again and make sure that is correct. If the problem continues raise the top tension by one number or notch. Sew and see if that helps if it does lessen the loops on the back keep adjusting till it looks good.

Try and use a sandwich of backing batting and material to sew on while you do your tension adjustments.

Sheila

I am using the sandwich way, but how do you adjust top tension??? I have no idea what that is :-(

You will have a dial of some sort on the front of the machine, above the needle area. This dial will have numbers on it. 0 is no tension, and the higher the number goes the tighter it will make the top thread tension. Also check out your bobbin thread, make sure it is inserted correctly. Carol

I have been using it on 9, I'm sooo confused

Is it possible that you didn't lower the pressure foot? That will also cause the tension to be really bad.

I just tried a different "sandwich" and it is working fine...I literally have NO clue. I'm gonna play more before using the wall hanging.

That could have been it, I just lowed it and it worked fine... Hopefully THAT was it.

Thanks everyone for getting back to me ASAP :-)

This WAS it, i just did it again :-(

Good luck, finding the right tension is sometimes a pain.

hmmm, I had this problem yesterday. Thanks for the answer (2 birds with 1 stone!) I also tried using clear thread but it kept breaking off...any tips for having it come off of the spool cleanly?

I have to put the twisty threads in a coffee mug behind the machine. I've also used a thread net on some. Other folks swear by sticking some batting in the first thread guide.

Some thread works better feeding off the spool horizontally. You'll have to rig some kind of horizontal peg for it, though. My Singer has one of each but the Elna doesn't so that's where I use the coffee mug trick.

Such great people here!

That used to work for me too. I learned the other day that any thread which is cross-wound on the spool can go on the horizontal spool holder. Any thread that is straight-wound (in rows) needs to be on a vertical spool holder.

that is great that you got it figured out, happy quilting!

thanks, I'll give that a try...

I had this problem and finally after trying everything I decided to clean the bobbin case. There was a little bit of dust, but a tiny piece of thread had somehow found its way into the case. After cleaning it worked just fine.