littlharley

I have been doing freemotion quilting on a domestic sewing machine since the beginning of the year. just the past few days I have been having trouble with my needle hitting on the pressure foot edge and breaks .... i've managed to break 8 needles so far... I bought a new pressure foot noticing the old one was bent. i started off great... but, as you can probably guess i am back to my needles hitting. can anyone tell why it is now just starting to act up and hit like it does???? i am so confused.... silly huh ? I will probably eventually figure it out but thought i may ask on here and see if anyone else has had the same problem.

LyndaOH

What kind of machine and foot are you using?

bakermom

Are you moving the fabric faster than the needle is going? You might be bending the needle ever-so-slightly so it hits the foot

Tartan

Do you have a darning or free motion foot on? A darning foot is a little circle or horse shoe shape foot that hops on a spring on the quilt top. This is used with the feed dogs lowered or covered. You would have to really pull the quilt to hit the darning foot. You are more likely to be hitting the throat plate by the feed dogs. Make sure your machine has the zig zag plate on instead of the single hole plate. This gives the needle a little more room and you are less likely to hit the plate. Make sure that your quilt sandwich is all supported on your table so there is no drag. You will need to either move your quilt slower or increase the speed of the machine.

busy fingers

Are you able to move your needle position over slightly?

JustAbitCrazy

I agree with the others here. I think you are getting better at fmq'ing, and as a result you are moving the fabric too fast. This causes the needle to flex more. You'll have to increase the speed of the machine or you may have to slow down. I don't fmq, but a friend has this same problem when she gets confident and moves too fast.

littlharley

thank you all for the advice :0) ... that is probably it .... just getting too excited and moving it too fast lol .... I'll give it another shot :0)

franie

I am thinking the machine is out of time. Just a guess however.

bakermom

Another thing, make sure your quilt is well supported. the weight of the quilt may be pulling the needle out of alignment a bit