Causes of thread shredding
 

Hi everyone, I am trying to quilt on my sit down LA and I'm having thread shedding. About to give up and doing a huge King. I've stitched about 2/3 of it and now having this problem. I changed my needle, even re-adjusted tension. I am stumped. ! I had so wanted to finish it today and clean up, because tomorrow I will be one year older. I knew this quilt was aging me-lol

Hmmmm....you've done the things that I would have suggested...changed the needle and the tension...another thing I've found is that some threads don't like high speeds. Also, you might try changing your needle again...they do sometimes have flaws...like a rough spot in the eye that we can't detect...but the thread can. I have also been known to unwind a bunch of thread from the current spool...in case I had run into a 'bad' run of thread.....good luck!

Thank you Granky for responding. I did everything you suggested except unwinding thread. It is a hope that I have enough thread to wind some more bobbins and still have enough to finish my quilt. I do a pretty close meander and with a King it's taking a lot of thread. If I do run out that will be another problem......

Not a long-arm story, but recently I was doing free-standing lace embroidery and thought my machine needed service, or even replacing. Thread was shredding every couple hundred stitches, and I had a dozen leaves to make at about 12000 stitches each! I did all the usual stuff—changing needle, adjusting tension, running some monofilament through to see if anything was caught in the system—and still had shredding.

I then tried putting a thin line of Sewer’s Aid—the silicon stuff in the little plastic bottle—along the thread on the spool. Problem solved! Worth a try, maybe.

Sewer’s Aid also works for me.

I know you changed your needle, but now go up a size. If you are using a 16, go to an 18.. Let us know if this works.

Well, first off Happy Birthday! I also have a sitdown longarm - i see that you have checked most of the usual list of “offending” culprits! It can be frustrating i know. Rethreading the machine and bobbin would be first and checking for lint in the bobbin area while there. You’ve checked the needle and maybe gone to one with a larger “hole”? I remember using some shinier thread for the first time (trilobal polyester) and got shredding. It was wound on the spool in the same manner as cones are so i used vertically instead of putting it on the horizontal spool holder. After getting a little frustrated and taking a break i remembered i had a thread net - that did the trick! I keep the nets where i always know where they are now

I hope you figured it out! And I will be a year older tomorrow too! Happy Birthday to both of us!

Silly question - how does one use a thread net?

I had shredding with my Brother P1500 and it turned out to be the hook. I traded it in on a new same machine and I don't have any of those issues anymore. But, suggested to me were as above, changing needle, going up a size, don't pull the quilt, and one other one is put the spool far away from the machine through a thread stand. On the old machine all that helped, but, didn't solve the problem. Good luck, let us know what worked.

since it's a king size quilt and you are using a sit-down LA, could it be that the quilt is so large on your table that it hanging off and putting tension on the quilt under the needle and causing the shredding?
Especially since you've managed to get 2/3 of it done.

here's another suggestion for if you don't have any "sewer's aid"...I use mineral oil on my thread when it starts breaking on embroidery machine.

Probably wrong size needle for the thread weight. I had a class with David Taylor and needle size is one of the most important factors when machine quilting. The fabric is actually shredding the thread due to the size needle hole made. He demoed this using very oversize props so we could understand.

Not a silly question at all - i had to ask too! This particular thread is kinda shiny and i have found that it unwinds from the spool faster than say a cotton thread (if that makes sense). I have found that the net keeps the unwinding a little more controlled without adding drag. For me no more shredding and i have zero tension issues with the net as opposed to without it. Here is what the net looks like. Hopefully my photos post right side up!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]618681[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]618682[/ATTACH]

I have a regular machine that I quilt on. I use a size 16 needle only for quilting. Thread usually only shreds if I move the quilt too much.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I had done everything, except change the thread, as I had no more. I finished my quilting. I don't know what happened. I turned the machine off, to eat supper/dinner and when I turned it back on, it started quilting fine. I was able to zoom on through however, it is now after midnight and I need to go to bed.

Happy Birthday to us Ginaky!

How do you apply this to your cone of thread?

I didn't mention when I said I changed needle, that I tried a size up and 2 different needles the same size that I had quilted 2/3 of it. All I can figure is that I got in a bad spot of thread on the cone, as someone here suggested.Thank you for trying to help me, tho.

You should see how I quilt. Besides the table the machine is in, I butt up a 6 foot folding table to side of it. The machine table and the folding table are then butt up to my 9 foot long dining table. None of the quilt hangs off and I have two clamps (I have more but can't find them:shock:) also on some of it when I roll up to start in center. I guess it will be an 'Unsolved Mystery' as to why it would stitch 2/3, shred for hours, then start stitching fine again the whole side, from top to bottom.

Just as you would the 'sewers aid'...just 3 or 34 lines from top to bottom of thread cone. I have mine in those small bottles that you squeeze to flow from opening in top..like an eye drops bottle.

Sewer's Aid is 100% silicone. It will tame unruly hair and make it shine too. Put a couple of drops in your hand and run it through through your hair. I use it to polish my machine bed and my sewing table top when machine quilting It's great for the extension tables. I have used it for years.

[QUOTE=AprilM;8314679]Not a silly question at all - i had to ask too! This particular thread is kinda shiny and i have found that it unwinds from the spool faster than say a cotton thread (if that makes sense). I have found that the net keeps the unwinding a little more controlled without adding drag. For me no more shredding and i have zero tension issues with the net as opposed to without it. Here is what the net looks like. Hopefully my photos post right side up!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]618681[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]618682[/ATTACH][/QUO
TE]


Thanks! Very helpful!!

Mine did that and I tried everything and then checked the bobbin area and it was full of lint. I cleaned it and had no more problem. It is funny that some of the smallest things can set a machine off.
Lynda

did you get the new needle from the same package as the old one? Could be a defective batch. Also, change thread (on a practice bit or out in the border) just to check if it could be a thread issue.

Great tip.. Recently I, too, was almost finished with a project and it suddenly shredded the thread twice in a row. Finally got it worked out but this tip might have been faster if I'd known. I've never had to use silicone or any additive for thread. I will remember this. Thanks.
Laughed when I saw that she turned her machine off and went to eat. When she came back it worked fine!

Regarding the silicone - that really helps! A lot of times if i know ahead what thread i want to use, i will spray the heck out of it with silicone spray and they seal it up overnight in a small ziplock bag. A friend of mine with a longarm gave me that tip many years ago when i was having difficulty doing FMQ on my domestic machine with certain threads. Now that i have a sitdown setup i continue to keep the silicone spray handy - for thread and to prep the area to make it smooth for quilting as someone else just mentioned.

Thank you, very much for the 100% silicone reference. I had gotten the SDS for Sewer's Aid a couple of years ago, while I was having trouble finding it locally. I was able to find https://www.homedepot.com/p/Super-Lu...6104/304634062 which has the same CAS # as Sewer's Aid. Super Lube also has some other products with added ingredients, but the one I linked to only has the silicone oil. I called my local HD and ordered some to be delivered to the store (so I don't have to pay shipping, lol). I will have to wait to refill my Sewer's Aid.

I also read that it is a good lubricant for plastic and rubber. Which I think would be good for my plastic knitting machines.

Thank you, again.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

I got some Sewer's Aid yesterday at JoAnns. It was $6.99 for .05 oz but I paid 1/2 off for $3.50. I do remember the lady I bought my machine from said something about a silicone lubricant. This is what she did. Do you see that small rectangle of brown felt she glued to machine? She said she drops a few drops of oil onto that felt and as the thread passes, it gets lubricated. I had forgotten this, until I had this problem and all of you started talking about silicone. Thanks for this Quilting Board and all of you![ATTACH=CONFIG]618728[/ATTACH]

I dip most all my thread in mineral oil to cover and let drain. This is a Sharon Schamber must do. If you don't know who Sharon Schamber is, just know her quilts win in every show she enters. https://www.pinterest.com/creativefo...aron-schamber/

I'm glad you got it working. I fought my longarm a month on thread breaks. Did everything. I use thread conditioner, and nets, went through many new needles thinking they might be defective, checked timing, tension, everything. Checked the entire thing for a burr somewhere. Finally took off the last thread guide and it started working fine. There does not seem to be anything at all wrong with that guide, but i have ordered a new one anyway.