today i packed up my janome and went up to the store. there's a guy there that can tell you why you have issues with free motion quilting. is it me or the machine?
i should have known. i came out of there without my machine and a quote for service (cleaning, annual tune-up) that is going to cost me between $70 and $80! he said i had nicks in my plate from bent needles (must have been those times when the needle broke . . . oops). he thinks he can smooth the nicks out without replacing any parts. that still seems awfully expensive!
i'll be lucky if he has it done by saturday. interesting though, the lady that was there did some free motion on one of the demo machines and she had some loops on the back, too! he told me there are several factors to the loopiness - thread, needle, speed, throat plate being smooth, etc. he did say that the thread i was using (coats and clark) was not recommended (go figure).
*sigh* i feel naked and i didn't get my block-of-the-month done for saturday morning. cheer me up.
i could buy a lot of quilting supplies with $80!
what do you all pay to have your machine serviced annually? or do you have it done that often?