noveltyjunkie

My Brother NS30 and I have had some tough times together on the tension front, but, as far a piecing goes, we have gotten to know one another sufficiently well that I can always provide a new needle or rewind a bobbin when things are tough and now our relationship is pretty trouble free.

So, today I decide to try to do a little SITD on it. it has quilting stitches on it- it must be able to deal with this, right?!

I pop in a test sandwich with two pieces of scrap cotton and a bit of bamboo batting I am planning to use for a baby quilt.

Oh dear. The tension is just disastrous. The top thread is way too tight. I put in a new needle. No change- a new bobbin- nope! I adjusted the tension dial, one tiny click at a time and even with the top thread tension turned right down to zero, it is still pulling the bobbin thread up and, even if it did not look awful, the thread can just pull out.

Am I destined to hand quilt this whole top? Is my machine out to drive me to drink? Was I really bad in a previous life? WHAT IS WRONG?

Sob sob. Sewing is not supposed to be this hard, surely?

Has anyone any tips for me? I am so sad and disappointed!

amazon

Ohhh, sorry your having trouble! ? 1. Have you oiled your machine lately? 2. Are you using the darning plate to cover your feed dog?My Brother is a 5130 and does reasonable well on FMQ. but it does love the oil. I sew on a antique Household machine now, so I have forgotten alot on the Brother. I think cjosmommy has one, you might contact her thru a PM .

gramma8

I'm having the same problem right now on my Brother (basic Computerized Quilting Brother). I thought I was the only one having trouble. I have a yellow-gold backing and dark fabric in the rectangles. And if the dark doesn't show through to the bottom, the light color shows through to the top.
I'm definetly going to try oiling first before I do any more sewing (I'm using a walking foot) and see how that works. Thanks for bringing this problem to the attention of these marvelous quilters. :thumbup:

woody

I have a Brother NS30 and it has given me no trouble quilting, except once. After some frustration I found the top thread was wrapped around the spindle where the tread goes.
Maybe try rethreading all from scratch or using another thread.
Are you using a walking foot?

I wish I had a better answer.

tooMuchFabric

Check that your top thread has not slipped down around the spool holder, this can happen and will cause the top thread to act like it is caught on something, making the top tension "tight."

noveltyjunkie

No- last time I had trouble with it the wise woman at the place I bought it told me it does not need to be oiled and I should never oil it. She seemed to know what she was talking about, but maybe not?

No. I have the feed dogs up, because it feeds through pretty well and when I put them down it was all bunching up.

noveltyjunkie

Sorry for being stupid- which spindle?


Already tried that :-(

I have tried it with and without. It works better with, but it is still pretty bad.

noveltyjunkie

This sounds like the spindle suggestion from the last post, but I dont understand which bit you mean- do you mean just the plastic sticky-out bit where I slide the spool on to sew? There is nothing wrapped around that.

Any more inspiration? Please ?!!!

ncsewer

With all the things that didn't work, I wonder if you have a piece of thread caught in the internal workings of the machine. It doesn't have to be big to create a mess and it could be in the tension mechanism or even in the bobbin area. Can you take out the bobbin and shine a light in there to see if anything is stuck? If you can't see anything wrong and all the suggestions everyone made don't work, it might be a trip to the sewing machine Dr.

noveltyjunkie

Thanks ncs- I was wondering about that. I will give a really good once over and keep my fingers crossed, but so much of the workings are inaccessible I'd have to be lucky to solve it that way I think.

Did I mention that the tension is just fine for piecing? It is only the thick jobs that it can't cope with.

Meanwhile, I am handquilting- good practice I suppose!