[QUOTE=moonwork42029;5230908]My most wonderful darling husband decided I (meaning he wanted to play on one) a long arm. About a year ago he saw one when we got the embroidery machine and has been itching to get one ever since. Well a few weeks ago, they were on sale (Pfaff Grand Quilter 18.8 with Inspira? frame) so he said to "write it up".
We were told we could use thread we had on hand (wrong) and that it was easier to learn free hand than to follow a pattern with the laser. (not for the uncreative minded)
We've now bought several big spools of quilting thread and have been trying the laser out and doing somewhat better than free hand on some practice fabric layered with flannel.
OMG...it's awful looking! We can't follow a straight line to save our rearends...and the curves....oh the curves look more like rounded off squares a lot of the times.
It has the auto stitch so it only sews when we move the machine so it's not that problem.
Maybe in 6 months we can load a "real" top on it but until then, it's just practice.
Grrrr and we can't seem to keep the thread from breaking so we're biting our nails.
This too shall pass and we'll laugh at how awful it was...someday.
Okay, I'll take a big breath and go back in the other room now....Pfaff - look out ...I'm coming back.[/QUOTE
I hold the world record for thread breaking while learning to LAQ. I took one whole week and played with tensions. went through lots of practice thread and fabric. Though there can be lots of other problems that cause your thread to break, mine was my tensions were too tight. Another reason is going too fast for the speed setting you have selected. Cotton thread seems to break less than poly, at least for me. A tip: once I mastered tensions on one brand name of thread, I switched completely to that thread. Now I have very little tension adjustment. Still some, because some dyes cause the thread to swell more than others. Good luck and keep at it. It will come.