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Having Problems With Monofilament Thread
I am trying to quilt a dark fabric with clear monofilament thread. I took the spool off the spindle and put it in a cup. It sits a little behind the machine. So I was going along and the machine stopped and I had a message to recheck the upper thread. I rechecked the thread and it was fine. I started again and within two minutes the same thing happened. It sounds like the bobbin is grinding. I checked the bobbin. It was fine. I had just cleaned it, so that wasn't an issue. Any suggestions?
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Try lowering your top tension and see if that helps. Libby Lehman(sp) lowers her tension from 4 to 2 when using specialty threads.
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If it's clear nylon monofilament thread, here are my tips.
If the thread is on a cone, use a threadnet so thread feeds from the top; without a thread net, the thread can puddle and get caught under the cone. Lower the upper tension considerably; this is because nylon monofilament stretches. When you wind the bobbin, wind slowly to avoid stretching the thread during the process. Metal bobbins are preferable to plastic bobbins because the plastic bobbins distort more easily from stretched thread. In any case, do not fill the bobbin more than 3/4ths full to avoid distorting the edge of the bobbin. |
I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Since I mainly quilt at night, it became very hard to see and it seemed to always get hung up on something.
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With your thread in the cup ... did you still thread it up to the top of your machine and thru all the hooks/loops that it normally would go thru?
Another possibility would be that it is sitting too low for the machine, and it is affecting the tension ... could you set the cup up on top of something, so it is closer to the same height as the spool would sit on your machine? ... then thread it thru all the hooks/loops? |
Originally Posted by Prism99
(Post 5936732)
If it's clear nylon monofilament thread, here are my tips.
If the thread is on a cone, use a threadnet so thread feeds from the top; without a thread net, the thread can puddle and get caught under the cone. Lower the upper tension considerably; this is because nylon monofilament stretches. When you wind the bobbin, wind slowly to avoid stretching the thread during the process. Metal bobbins are preferable to plastic bobbins because the plastic bobbins distort more easily from stretched thread. In any case, do not fill the bobbin more than 3/4ths full to avoid distorting the edge of the bobbin. |
I tape an upside down safety pin to the right side of the machine right at the top with the hole just above your machine. Then take the thread from the cup, put it through the hole of the safety pin and thread your machine as you normally would.
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The thread net is a wonderful thing! I just tried "Glide" thread for the first time and it was knotting in the tension guide like crazy because of the twirl as it was coming off the cone. My dealer recommended I take a nylon stocking to make a thread net, and now everything is working beautifully!!! Great advice "knlsmith" :thumbup:
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Here is what I did. I saw this online looking for answers. I did have it in a cup. One article I read said to put an empty bobbin on the spindle and thread through there. I tried that. My machine does not like that stuff! I broke three needles and the bobbin made these horrible grinding noises. I thought I had broken my machine! I just quit! I posted another thread with pictures asking for suggestions since I just can't use that thread!
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As another thought ... I do not think you have said you have tried using regular thread.
Perhaps what you need to do is try some FMQ with the regular thread, to ensure that you can FMQ without problems. It could be that the monofilament is not the sole cause of the problems you are having. With three threads going here, that it's hard to keep upwith what's going on, EllieGirl. ... would be much easier if you had kept it to just one thread, and the continuing story, IMHO. |
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