I have had an amazing "Ah Ha" quilting day!
Last week I decided to make a "learning quilt" from a panel I bought years ago. I wanted to practice my fmq which had severe problems. Well I started reading past posts on this Board,and going to some outside sites and this is what I learned:
i have a Viking Sapphire quilt 875 and have always had trouble with fmq.
i finally realized that there is a pivot height setting that lowers the pressure foot during fmq, so I lowered
That a couple of notches
I always use Mettler Silk Finish Thread which comes on a spool that is cross wound instead of straight wound. According to the YouTube videos at Superior, I realized that those kind of spools need to be on a horizontal spool pin, to decrease the tension of the thread coming off the spool. In relation to that, I realized that I should wind by bobbins from the horizontal spool also.
From that same video I realized that maybe I should be using a topstitch large needle, and keep the top thread tension less than 3 on my machine.
i also used a single hole plate, which I had bought but never used.
Anyway, after making all these changes I was able to finish fmq without any further broken top thread or skipped stitches! Of course I still need a lot of practice, but at least I can practice now without getting frustrated! I am a happy girl right now.