I've volunteered to give a talk on tension to one of the quilting groups that I belong to next Monday.
So, in an effort to make sure I'm fairly well prepared, I thought I'd gather a list of the types of things that appear to be tension problems, the problems with having poor tension - too loose or too tight, how to adjust tension and why, how tension problems affect machines.
Here's what I'm hoping to tackle so far:
- Top tension does nothing. "I turn it this way and that and it doesn't change!"
- "I've rethreaded thirty times. it. doesn't. help."
- "I just take everything out and rethread and it fixes it!" (I don't recommend this anymore, btw)
- "Oh, I don't touch that"
- "Bobbin tension? There's such a thing?"
- "Bird's Nests", "the mess down under", "pucker up, baby!", "Flatline...."
- "My machine doesn't like that thread"
- "My machine's growling...it's got stress!"
- "I'd skip stitches too if I had that much tension!"
- "My machine has automatic tension"
Also:
- How to read a test sew
- Decorative stitches - how they're different tension wise
- I'm also going to do a little on serger tensions.
What other tension problems can I bust or tame?