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Question: How do you stop the rats nest that happens on vintage machines when you don't hold the threads? If you have a quilt under the pressure foot, how can you hold the threads?

I've been helping my sister, a teacher, with her 5th grade's class project, which is a quilt. My sister doesn't sew, so I go one day a week and help the kids. The kids quilted their communal quilt on a DSM, with a quilting foot (all straight lines).

I brought the quilt home to finish it up. I was cleaning up the left over threads, etc. and saw a couple of knots. It occurred to me that if you were FMQing (or other type of quilting in a DSM), you would have the same problem. You can't hold the thread tails.

I've only made a couple of small quilts, which I've taken to the long armer to quilt. So, I'm short on quilting experience. What's the solution?

bkay

Not sure if you can do this on vintage machines, but I bring my bobbin thread to the top before I start and then it doesn't get all tangled underneath.

Watson

I find one of 2 ways usually does the trick--either pull out enough of a tail that you don't have to hold it down Or use a
"leader" which is a little piece of fabric that you sew through first and without clipping the thread, pull it from under the presser foot out of the way to the back and put your quilt pieces under the presser foot and keep sewing.

with FMQ you bring the bobbin thread to the top first and hold it as you take a couple of tiny stitches to lock the sewing and then keep FMQing.

Bring the bobbin thread to the top, hold both threads together for a few stitches then clip the threads.

Allright!

Thanks,
bkay

Bring the bobbin thread to the top by lowering then raising the needle.

Vintage machines work the same way.

You can't use leaders when you are quilting in the center of the quilt sandwich.

I always thought the old machines with the small hole in the needle plate wouldn't make thread nests as much, but I have found that they do; only not quite as often.


Maybe there is something else wrong with the machine.
If bringing the bobbin thread to the top doesn't work, look into another problem with the machine.

They need to bring the bobbin thread up so they can hold on to it. If, for whatever reason, this isn't possible, they will have to reach under, hold the long, long thread and hand crank a stitch or two and then bring their hand on top.
But, I can't think of any machine that wouldn't let you bring a bobbin thread up.

Bring the bobbin thread up by pulling the top thread then hold both of them.

One thing to add and it might sound like it should be a given but when you pull the bobbin thread up and hold the two threads, position them towards the back of the machine in the direction that the material will be moving. Make your first couple of stitches slow. Use the hand wheel if you have too and then you should be fine. Good luck.