Chain piecing - thread keeps breaking - why?
 

I haven't done much chain piecing but I'm doing it for my current quilt. I find that when I reach the spot between the fabric squares where my needle is not puncturing fabric, my thread breaks. Not every time, but enough that it's annoying. Am I doing something wrong? I changed my thread but that didn't help.

Thanks!

I don't leave a lot of space between one piece and the next. Have not had any thread breakage so can't really help you out! Are you pulling on your pieces to move them?

Thanks! I don't think I'm pulling on the pieces but I'll be more aware of that. Maybe I am.....

You might try pushing your next piece in directly after the one just leaving the presser foot. Don't leave more than one thread without fabric under the needle. Hope that makes sense. Obviously your machine doesn't like to sew without fabric. :) good luck Gina

Thanks Gina. I wondered if it was a quirk of my machine. So if I push one piece of fabric right after the other one, will it be hard for me to cut them apart?

It can be a quirk of your machine. i don't know why, but some have said their machines hate chain piecing. Good luck.

What size needle is in your machine? You may need a bigger size and/or a different type of needle. If you provide the type of thread you are using and the needle size, someone can tell you if they are appropriate or what might work better for you.

Also, sounds to me as if your upper tension may be a little too tight. Have you tried lowering the tension?

Thanks native texan and prism99. I'm using a size 12 needle. This particular piecing is the 3rd stage of this quilt and now that you've jogged my memory, there was some chain stitching previously that worked ok. Maybe I need to change my needle? Would that cause the thread to break? It's easy enough to try, so I'll do that. The tension is ok, both types of thread are no-name brands but they've both worked fine in the rest of the quilt.

Yep, could be a bad needle. Or a burr on the needle plate or even a burr on the hook. You can polish the burrs of with a very fine sandpaper -- about 400 -500 gritt.

I hope you'll get it figured out and be happily chain-piecing away, very soon.

Kenmore ... definitely change the needle, yes, an old needle can cause the thread to break. There could be a burr on the eye.

When I chain piece I always finish with the needle down. As soon as one piece is finished, I lift the presser foot slightly (enough to slide the fabric under, but not enough to disengage the tensioner), and slide the next piece until it touches the needle making sure to also slide it far enough to the right to get the correct seam allowance. I usually have just enough space between pieces to snip the threads.