Knitette

I spent a frustrating afternoon yesterday trying to FMQ with my pretty new 'Christmas' coloured thread - a blend of reds, greens and white which I'd ordered online.

Well - that top thread hopped and jumped and skipped every few stitches like a flea! Then I noticed I still had my IDT lever down (Dual feed thingy). Problem solved. No. Seemed as if the top thread was 'jumping' out of the needle scarf. Very odd.

OK, so it must be the tension - tension higher. No. Tension lower. No. Try Auto tension again. No

OK, rethread. No. Rethread top thread AND bobbin. No. Change bobbin. No. Change needle. No. Try different brand of needle and different bobbin thread. No. Try adjusting tension again. No.

Abandon pretty new thread in disgust. Just as I was doing this, I noticed that the thread wasn't my favourite Superior, like I thought - it was YLI (my mistake, not theirs). On further investigation, I then discovered it was 30wt and 3ply! No wonder the blooming thread was jumping! The largest needle I had was 90/14, so project abandoned until I buy some bigger needles. (Ain't giving up on it - if I can FMQ in metallics, I'm not going to be beaten by this sucker )

A good learning experience, which hopefully I won't repeat (the not reading, lol)!

QuiltingByFiona

I feel a little guilty that I found your post amusing... but then again, maybe it was empathy, because I have done that myself! Lol!

Sandygirl

Great example of demonstrating thread weight and using the appropriate needle size. Real life example.
sandy