My top thread keeps breaking while I am practicing my machine quilting.
What am I doing wrong here. I am using Coats and Clark 100% cotton machine quilting thread. I am stitching along and my stitches are looking even most of the time. just doing some basic loop-de-loops and stippling and then boom the thread snaps.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa

Also i checked the manual and everything they said, a scratched needle plate (needle plate is fine) scratched bobbin (bobbin is fine), scratched needle (new needle) so was wondering if I am putting to much pressure or moving the fabric too fast?

Thread breakage is the worst problem I have with free motion machine quilting. I change needles, thread, tension and and sometimes that solves the problem and sometimes it doesn't. What works one time won't work the next time. :evil:

I have a long arm and I have the same problem sometimes. What I found is.........it is the thread itself. I change threads and....voila....... all is fixed. Sometimes you can just have a bad spool. I was getting so frustrating when mine kept breaking so I changed the thread and it stopped doing it.............

try using another spool of thread.

Barb

i agree with barb - its the thread. its could be a bad batch or maybe its old. even if you bought it just the other day it could be very old.

If it's old thread, I've heard that placing it in the freezer (in a baggie, I think) is supposed to re-hydrate it. Haven't done that myself.

You might try switching to a larger needle and perhaps loosening the top tension slightly, to reduce friction on the thread.

I'm with everyone else thinking it's the thread. I tried using the Coats and Clark 100% cotton thread, and it drove me NUTS! My machine hated it. I switched to the Red Star thread and haven't had a problem since. (And it's a little less expensive than some of the other name brand threads).

Somewhere on this board is a thread about thread. I seem to recall that C&C didn't fare well in the discussion. Red Star and those from Connecting Threads did much better.

I too, agree with the other girls. Your thread must be the problem.
I have had it happen to me also & I know how frustrating it is.
Try buying another brand & see if it works better.
Good Luck sewing!!
:D :D :D :D

I had that problem all the time when using Coats and Clark thread. I switched to Connecting Thread Essential thread and all was fine. ( well with the thread it was fine, I still need more practice with free motion quilting. ) I still use C&C for piecing.