Originally Posted by jul12

I've had my 8900 just over 12 months. At first I nearly went mad with fmq - breaks and skipping. Then I got some Janome purple tip needles - end of problem.
Seems that the machine "bedded in" as it were, because after a couple of quilts, I returned to other needles. Have just finished a couple of heavily fmq'd quilts with J. titanium 70/10, and Aurifil 50 wt.
I've not done anything with bobbin tension, just have the machine on 'auto'.
But I have found that it will not use Schmetz needles like my 6600, only Organ (who also make the Janome needles).
There is a very slight difference in the length of the two brands - Organ needles marginally longer than Schmetz.

Originally Posted by PatriceJ

join "the club."
i had the same problem until i switched to Organ brand needles.
nothing else made any improvements.
as long as i use Organ brand i almost never get eyelashes - and i am really not good at free-motion.
if i put 60wt thread in the bobbin, i rarely get pin-dots on the back, either.

since Organ also makes the Janome branded needles, there is no need to spend extra on the "official" needles.

it was very annoying to not be able to use any from my huge collection of shmetz needles, but Organ is less expensive. building a new collection has not "broken the bank."