Bernina stitch regulator question
 

Has anyone experienced a problem with their BSR dropping stitches when sewing on old fabric?! I'm quilting a top pieced by my great grandma, and the darn BSR keeps dropping stitches. When I practice on another swatch of just backing fabric (3 layers), it works fine, but when I switch back, it starts to randomly drop again. I'm using all-cotton batting, thread, and backing, and assume the quilt top is also all cotton. Help!

I have not experienced this, never tried it. But, I know some of my old fabrics seem more tightly woven. Sometimes they seem thicker to me. Maybe a different needle?

Is it possible that the older fabric is dusty and you're accumulating dust on the sensor of the BSR?

Try a different needle. Different thread. It's odd that it's only acting up with the top. I will admit that I had one quilt made by a friend with mostly batiks and I had the worst time trying to FMQ it. My machine was fine on anything else, but that quilt would make it skip and snarl. I never did figure out what was causing it. I ended up quilting it using a darning foot and no BSR, and actually it turned out fine.

Have you tried both modes? If it still does it only on the older fabric I would say it is dust on the sensor which Is difficult to stop. Use the darning foot and good luck..

What size needle are you using? I would try a larger one.

What do you mean by dropping stitches? Is the needle going down, but not making a stitch? Or is the stitch just longer than the other stitches? In the first case it would not be the BSR, but more likely the needle flexing so that the stitch isn't formed. In that case a larger needle (that wouldn't flex as much) might help. Also slowing down so that the fabric doesn't move (and therefore flex the needle) while the needle is down would help. Or it could be lint in the bobbin case, or probably several other things, but not the BSR. On the other hand, if you're getting long stitches without the needle going down, it could be that the BSR isn't reading the movement of the fabric correctly - or it could be that you're moving the fabric faster than the BSR can keep up with. There's an annoying sound that the Bernina makes when you're moving the fabric too fast, but it's possible that you have that sound turned off. If you don't hear it at all, ever, check your manual and turn it back on. It's annoying, but it does provide useful information.

I haven't used my BSR since I got a longarm, but when I took my Bernina in for servicing I learned that the BSR should also be taken in, so that software updates could be made. This was years ago, but after the first update my BSR started doing a better job than it had previously. So it might be good to find out if your BSR needs software updates.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will follow up. When I say it's dropping stitches, the needle goes down, but doesn't catch the bobbin thread and comes back up, and does this multiple times (sometimes 4-5 stitches) before catching the bobbin thread and creating the next stitch. I'm moving slowly, hear all the sounds, and it happens in both modes. Crazy, huh! I've used both microtex, quilting and all purpose needles with no change. And it's random too...fine for a while and then dropping. I will move on to my next project, also an old quilt top, and pray it doesn't keep happening! Thanks so much.

Great idea, I will try that. Thank you!