I just went to a class for my Bernina 730. The lady said that when free motion quilting, if you get eyelashes or loose top thread showing on the bottom, change your throat plate to one that has just a small round hole instead of a 5.5 mm rectangle for a hole. The throat plate with a small hole is also the plate that quilters like for piecing blocks.

I messed up the bobbin case that came with one of my machines trying to FMQ, had to take it in and ended up having to buy a new one. My repair man told me to buy two and keep one just for FMQ and I have had no more problems.

And then be sure to change back to the rectangle hole if doing zig-zag, fancy stitches etc. ..... to allow for the needle movement.

Julie, your problem with the lashes is your top thread, so bobbin washers won't help. I have a feeling that you are forgetting to put your pressure foot in the down position.The top thread is not being held tight when the take up lever lifts up and leaves a long loop on the bottom. It is very easy to forget to put the pressure foot down while FMQ, 'cause you are the feed dogs, not the machine.

It is always the simple things that we forget that gives us the most problems.

General rule of thumb, top thread problems is the bobbin and bottom thread problems is the top.

A lot of people that use the Bobbin Genies use them wrong. The bobbin case spring (usually flat metal) has to come out of the bobbin case. It's easy to take out and put back in. I took a class not from a machine quilter ( Machine quilters show you how to machine quilt and what works for them) but from several thread, needle and machine experts. Always start with the tension at 0 and move up 1/2 until the stitch is perfect. Always use a topstitch needle and match to the thread wt and ply. Always keep a journal of what needle size/brand you use with size thread/brand, and what type of batting and what tension settings you use. The journal has saved me many hours of frustration. It takes a lot of trying out needles and thread to get a perfect match, don't waste that perfect combo, write it down.

I have to turn my thread tension way up when fmqing... Usually it's around 8. I was really surprised but it made the world of difference and I get very few eyelashes now.

I had to do the same thing, all the way up 9, and it got rid of the eyelashes.

Another simple thing which often causes eyelashes is having the quilt sandwich too tight. You should be able to grab your finger around the quilt sandwich if you push it up into the quilt from underneath. Hope that makes sense. When you are machine quilting, you are making a machine which was only designed to work in a straight line (while motionless) work in all directions, while in motion. This makes the needle have to flex, and it can only flex so much. Most of the "give" has to come from the quilt, not the needle. If there's not enough "give", the result is eyelashes, especially on tight curves, or if you are sewing fast.

Need to edit: Sorry---I didn't realize this was in reference to fmq, so of course you can't "grab" your finger, as I suggested (That's a test to use when the quilt is on a frame).

Leah Days site has the washers but she also has tips on how to get good stitches so she might be able to help.