msawicki64

Thanks, also went online and found the cover that belongs with my machine so I'm ordering that so I don't have to remove the feed dogs everytime i quilt. Also I saw a turtorial where the woman used a sewing silicone on her surface to make it more slippery and she used an extention table and sprayed that too to make it move more freely so I'm going to try that too. Just want to be able to quilt my own quilts if I can. So expensive to send off and doing straight stitch to sew together is ok but might as well learn this too for experience and fun.

kwiltkrazy

The eye-lash looking loops are caused by going around the loops too fast, you either have to slow down your hand speed or increase you foot speed. You need to adjust your tension.

kwiltkrazy

It is looking much better, just having issues with hand/foot speed coordination. Keep practicing, you'll get it.

msawicki64

Thanks for the encouragement. I will do that.

Maride

The feed dogs are not the reason for the problem you are having. You need to adjust your tension. Start with the standard tension. If your machine works fine sewing a straight line with the regular foot, switch to the darning foot and try again without changing the tension. The secret here is to sew very fast but move the fabric slowly. You will learn to achieve even stitches, but while you are learning they may not all be the same size. Is OK. It takes time. If at the same tension it doesn't work, adjust your tension little bits at a time. Make sure you have a nice sharp needle and good quality thread. With your machine I wouldn't try anything smaller than 40 wt. Fine threads don't work well on all machines.

Also, I may get in trouble for saying this, not every machine works well for FMQ. I can say this from experience. I had a Kenmore and no matter what I did I got eyelashes on the back. I had 3 different feet and sometimes I couldn't do it with one, switch feet and the other one would work well for a little bit. It was completely unpredictable. When I switched to an older Bernina I can say that I achieved good FMQ. What I am trying to say is not to put all the pressure on something you may be doing wrong. It may just be your machine.

Keep trying but don't change more thna one thing at a time, otherwise you will never know what fixed the problem.

kwiltkrazy

Maride is right about it might be your machine. I have a Singer, which is now my back up machine, it will not do curvy motions, so I thought it was me, but my Janome does them and loves them. But, the practice won't hurt you. Good luck. Remember to have fun, cause that is what quilting is about.

msawicki64

Thanks so much for all the info. I was thinking the same thing about my machine. I know down the road I do want to get a more updated sewing machine that has more options and works better with quilting.

DOTTYMO

Marguerite,
I spent 2 hours on sunday solving this problem. In the end I adjusted the tension on the bobbin casing moving it very slightly to the left. ie if you think of a clock face one second at a time. Left because a you tube said was the way because my loops underneath. If loops on top to thwe right.
remember where the screw was when you start as a precaution in case it doesn't work.

msawicki64

I read somewhere on here where someone had mentioned they did the same thing. I took my bobbin area apart a little bit yesterday looking for where you adjust your bobbin tension. Not really sewing machine knowledgable but the only adjustable dials on my machine are for the stitch length and needle thread tention but bobbin tension where do I find that?

laurlync

My mother and I both were having the same looping on the back problem on an intermittent basis with our new Kenmore machines. I did a search on the internet and found a site that said to be sure you thread your machine with the presser foot up. If you thread with the presser foot down, the thread does not seat in between the tension disks properly. Once we started doing this, we have not had the problem again (except when I forgot to put the presser foot down).

With that being said, I have an old Singer machine I bought in 1984. It wouldn't drop the feed dogs, but had a cover. I understand your problem with the cover in place because it was very difficult to move the quilt sandwich around on it as well. I found I could do better by not covering the feed dogs. With the hopping motion of the darning foot, I was able to move the quilt without interference from the feed dogs. It was not an ideal situation, but the only way I could use the machine for quilting.

I bought the new Kenmore machine when my old Singer finally quit and I love it. It will drop the feed dogs and has the needle up/down feature I was looking for.

I hope you get your machine working properly.