Help me, Wise Persons of the QB!!
 

So I'm trying to practice my FMQ, and it's pretty ugly, but tonight something happened that I can't explain. I've just figured out how to bring up the bobbin thread. I'm working on these silly potholders I made to give to family. So I bring up the bobbin thread and work on a nice spiral design, but when I look at the back, it's all thread nests and horrible! What did I do wrong? I thought that if the bobbin thread was up that wasn't supposed to happen! I've thrown away about half a spool of thread - it happened twice! I'm going to bed now but I hope in the morning you will all tell me what I'm doing wrong.

One guess might be that you didn't put your presser foot down before you started sewing. I know you will get lots of good suggestions from our board!!

You need to adjust your tension. Try a few scrap pieces with FMQ and see if that helps. Also re thread your machine that has solved my problems many times.

Like already mentioned, it seems like it has to either be the presser foot not down, or the upper tension needs to be tightened, or maybe even just needs to be re-threaded. Keep at it, you'll be fine!

You mention learning how to bring the bobbin thread up, but you don't mention holding both threads tightly when you start quilting. Are you doing that?

My machine always throws a tantrum and I have a horrible mess on the back when the needle needs changing. Do you have a new needle in the machine?

These are all great ideas and I will tackle it again when I get home from work. It could well be the presser foot - I'm not sure I had it down. I will let you know - thanks so much!

I can't help you since I hand quilt.

Happens to me when the bobbin is not in correctly. Turning from the wrong way perhaps?

I also use gene washers...it works great...makes a huge difference preventing that issue. Another thing I do is cover the feeddogs, keep them up...I use the slider but you can use a business card or some people here use oven liners. I bought one yesterday but have not used it yet.

It's happened to me too at the beginning of FMQ, and in my case it was because I didn't have the quilting presser foot down even though I was holding the two threads. Hope that's all it is in your case.

It was the presser foot. I just tried it again, and while my lines are still horrible, my threads stayed where they were supposed to. Thank you!!

I love a story with a happy ending :-)

I suffered with this until I accidentally found out you have to put thumb pressure on the bobbin when inserting it and the thread tail, or it won't catch on the invisible "hook". Went thru lots of thread and two trips to the technician before she thought to mention it.

When ever I forget to put the presser foot down, my machine beeps at me!!! and will not move

This has happened to me lots of times, and it is usually t hat I don't have the presser foot down. Try that, but also like someone else suggested hold on to the thread when you first start

I am just starting to learn the FMQ. It will definitely be A LOT of practice....I was playing around with a scrap piece again yesterday and after about 30 minutes of frustration....I discovered that you have to put the presser foot DOWN. It made a BIG difference.....but I still need a lot of practice to master this skill. I have watched a ton of videos and I can't remember hearing that little bit of very important info??

Tartan, thanks so much for sharing this info. Just printed off those little stick figures for my own reference. This board is the best!

You also have to lower the presser foot or , if you have a Pfaff, place the presser foot lever half way between up and down.

Was the bobbin wound correctly? Once in a while, if my bobbin gets wrapped wonky, I have the same problem. Change to a fresh bobbin, completely rethread the machine, put a new needle in and try, try again! Good luck!!

Such a simple solution! I've never FMQ'd, but know I have to attempt it. I hope I remember to lower the presser foot when I finally get started. I, too, love this board!

Nice diagram...thanks for sharing...

This sounds like it could be the problem - it's easy to do when FMQing as the foot isn't tight on th fabric . Another thing is that perhaps you threaded it with the presser foot down and it didn't get caught in those tension discs. Ask me how I know this! Haha!

This is embarrassing to admit, but I'm a newbie. I had my needle actually in backwards and it did that... I tried EVERYTHING before discovering I had put the needle in backward. :thumbup:

This made a lot of sense so I just went on superior threads website and couldn't find it. Would it be possible for someone to send us the link?

Tartan, thank you, I just went and printed off the tension guide from Superior and will be looking more at thier site. I am from Quebec many years ago and have lots of realitives in Ontario.

Be sure your presser foot is up when you thread the machine. If not, the thread doesn't properly seat between the discs. I had the same intermittent problem for years and couldn't figure out why. Finally did a Google search and saw this suggestion and have never had the problem since. The reason it was an intermittent problem was because sometimes the presser foot was up while threading and sometimes it was down, but I never realized the connection. It just seemed that sometime the machine worked great and the next time it didn't. It was VERY FRUSTRATING!!

My Janome dealer 's answer to a similar question of mine re knots on the back of work was..." Always rethread the top thread when troubles occur. It may have inadvertently jumped out of the tension disks ." It seems to work for me. Pressure foot down is always another issue although my machine won't sew if this is the case. I hope this helps.

I had that trouble until I put in a new needle. It may have been the wrong size for the thread I was using.

It could be that the top thread slipped out of the tension part. That's happened to me before.

Oh...I do agree with the needle...i also found the jean needle works best when putting on bindings. When you FMQ put on a new needle.

All the things others have suggested are good to try and let me tell you what two OSMG's (old sewing machine guys or gals--these are shop owners who service too) told us on my sm list to do. When you start sewing, be sure your takeup lever is at the top of its downward stroke. One said that if you do this, you can just lay the threads back across the bed and not even hold them and there would be no nests or tangles underneath. It has to do with getting the stitch stroke started right. I've been working on a little quilt and tried it and he's right, it worked. You know how sometimes when you press on the foot control, you have to give the handwheel a little nudge to get it going. At one point I even got a new FC, thinking that was the problem. But when I was careful to have the takeup lever at the top, it started right off with no hesitation. Just another thing to try!

Interesting. More good info to try. Thanks!