I am freemotion quilting a quilt and suddenly my machine started skipping stitches. The only thing that I did was change freemotion feet. I went from the plastic one to a metal one. What could be causing this? I have never had this problem before.

Make sure the lint is cleaned out of bobbin & around the feed dogs. Make sure your bobbin is threaded right. Try a different new needle. Check to see if you need to rethread the top. Check tension....anybody else out there have other ideas to help Ruthie?

Thanks Pam, I tried cleaning out the lint OMG I'm so ashamed :oops: It was full. Anyway it did help but did not completely alleviate the problem. I will try some more of you suggestions, although the machine is threaded right and the bobbin is in correctly. I put a metal freemotion foot on you know the one with the large opening on the foot and it started soon after that so that might be the problem. Has anyone else had this problem with these feet?

Oh no Ruthie, I hate that you are having problems. I usually unthread my entire operation and start over. For some reason, this usually helps. Good Luck!

Thanks girls, I think I'm gonna call it a night and start again fresh tomorrow. I have so little to do on this quilt and I really want to finnish it soon. Tomorrow's another day :P

Check your bobbin and make sure you have it inserted properly. I do a lot of free motion quilting and lint in the feed dogs shouldn't cause it to skip stitches because the feed dogs are down.

What size needle are you using? When I am doing free motion I change to a larger needle because it has to go through three layers. Is your metal free motion foot attached correctly? I know this might sound crazy, but did you lower your foot...because the feed dogs are down, I've forgotten to lower my foot on occasion and then felt really silly.... LOL

Hope you find that tomorrow everything works fine.. :)

Thanks for all your help. I did check my bobbin and the tension was a little tight so I loosened it a bit (messing with the upper tension didn't help) and it seems to be better now. I also oiled the crap out of the machine and then let it set for a day. I'm confident that that will help also. Again, thanks for all your help. I did everything that everyone suggested including going to a larger size needle(from 11 to 14). I'll let you know if it works.

Ruthie,

Are you using monofiliment thread? My Bernina sewing machine does not like it at all. I have a 1260 and a 1530. Both of them will stitch for a minute or two with the clear thread and then it gets hung up in the bobbin case. I have tried several different brands no dice. On another forum they gave tips on differnt ways to use monofiliment that I have yet to try.

Let us know how you make out.

mpspeedy

Does your free-motion foot have a spring? I've heard that helps avoid skipped stitches.
JoanneS