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Help with free motion

Frustration big time. I have an Elna 7100 but is the same as the Janome 1600. Trying to free motion quilt and my thread breaks every few minutes. Last night I was able to go about 30 minutes but today about 3 minutes. I have changed needle, use good thread and reset the tensions. Any help would be appreciated.
CaroleLee

I am not familiar with your machine. If it’s a big quilt, make sure it is puddled around the machine so there is no drag. Are you wearing Machinger gloves or similar to help move the sandwich? I like a medium speed so I can drive the movement of the sandwich better. You might be getting the needle close enough to the plate to clip the thread if you are pulling/pushing the needle off center.

Try rethreading the machine. May want to try different spool of thread, too.

Using same thread and needle size as when you didn't have breakage? I'd guess that it's you are trying to move it too fast --machine needs to be moving little faster than you.

Make sure that your feed dogs are all the way down...then rotate the handwheel to make sure they're staying down.

Have you checked the height of the foot above the quilt surface?

You want it as low as possible without dragging on the fabric so that it keeps the thread from pulling the needle off center.

Also, what size needle are you using? A 90/14 topstitch is usually minimum. With FMQ you are stressing the needle by tugging on the thread laterally and a thinner needle will deflect more, possibly nicking the thread and thus causing it to shred.

Try moving the thread up and away from the machine. Also some machines like the feed dogs up and stitch length set to zero. Also concur to keep the entire quilt supported, don’t pull on it and don’t go too fast. But I had a machine that kept breaking thread and while all of the hints helped some the problem was a broken hook. I ended up trading it for the same model machine and have no issues regardless of thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaroleLee (Post 8369096)

Check 2 things that I have found caused thread to break during free-motion quilting.

1. Check your needle hole plate. Mine was a single hole with a tiny nick at the edge of the hole that the needle brought the thread up and down. A repair person at a sewing machine store smoothed it away with a tiny bit of steel wool...which he said I could do myself.

2. Check your Hook/ if your machine has one. (mine is a Bernina) The hook had a tiny bur on the tip of the metal point that brings the bobbin thread up to the needle. Our guild had a program all about sewing machine repair and that is how I learned about this fix. Take a fine grit sandpaper or nail file and lightly smooth off the rough place. I could feel the bur with my finger.

Both times my problem was resolved. I hope you find a solution to yours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by liking quilting (Post 8369180)

Try rethreading the machine. May want to try different spool of thread, too.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^ is a good idea. I had problems last winter quilting a quilt. The thread was constantly breaking. I'd re-threaded, cleaned and oiled over and over. The thread was still breaking. One of my quilty friends said that she had had that happen and it was the thread. So I went and picked up and a new spool of thread, wound a new bobbin and tried again. Everything was fine and I finished the quilt in 1/2 an hour.

I've had the 7100 for several years. Some days I love it..some days I want to stomp it, lol! I have those same problems and I keep practicing w/ diff thread until the problem goes away. One thing I have done ( besides loosening tension) is to wrap the thread on the 'thingy' only once...almost on day one! I find more success with king tut poly thread and sz 14 needle. Hope you figure it out. It's a lot of fun when it's working right.