Perhaps a few drops (or a vertical line) of the silicone type lubricant which I believe is called Sewer's Aid on your thread might help. It may give a touch of lubrication to your upper tension and ease the passage of the thread. I love using a 90 topstitch needle for most of my sewing. I do not have LA or midarm so do not speak from experience on one...only garment sewing and piecing and FMQ on my DM. Good Luck, I truly understand your frustration...I'll say a prayer for your peace of mind.

Have you tried a top stitch needle? I use a 16/100 or a 14/90. I use them and have no problems with machine/thread misbehaving.
Sharon

I had the same problem on my Pfaff Grand Quilter. I was told to try a topstitch needle as it has a bigger eye.

I have a 1600 P and I teach MQ 101 on it and have quilted over 100 quilts on it, and the only threads I seem to have problems with are sulky and connecting threads. I almost always use king tut, coats and Clark quilting thread, and mettler. I use a Organ 90/14 most of the time. If the thread is old it will break. I hold the thread up to the light and some have small burrs every so often and when you pull slightly on each end, that is where they break. Also, make sure you loosen your pressure foot tension, as that can also cause problems. I really love my machine, and I have a lot of different brands. It is a work horse. So sorry for your issues. Also, overlock thread is a thread that is very thin, that is why they use it with 3 or more cones with it on a serger. Not recommended, especially for a machine that runs at such high speeds. Also, if you are free motion quilting , don't quilt faster then your machine is sewing. Adjust your speed control.

courtney where are you in North Dakota? I am over 50 miles nw of Minot.

This is a good point, I hadn't even considered it. Your thread might be dry. Sharon Schamber dunks her cones in mineral oil. I have a couple of friends with longarms who have tried this and report that yes, it does work and no, it doesn't leave oil spots on your quilt (as long as you use the correct oil, pharmaceutical grade mineral oil).

Courtney, I have the evil twin of your machine :( It is currently at the store where I purchased it from for the third time. I saw your problems and they exactly match what I experience with my machine, the thread breaking, problems going side to side. I also have had problems with skipped stitches. These problems mainly occurred with Superior SoFine 40wt thread. I would happily quilt dense background stippling with bottom line in the top and bottom and when I changed to the heavier weight thread for a different part of the quilt, everything went downhill. Luckily I have another machine (Janome 6600P) it worked beautifully with all the threads and I was able to finish the quilts in time for Christmas. I tried everything that I could think of - lots of different needles, tension changes in the top and bobbin, different weight thread in the bobbin... The repair man told me to take my threads in and he would test them all. I pick the machine up tomorrow and will meet with the repair man when I collect it so he can go over everything with me. I will let you know what feedback I get. Hopefully it will help you too.

was just down in the Fargo area twice in the past two weeks. Sure was a nasty one each time for the roads. Glad you got your machine to work. This week end I hope to pull out my Rose. I want to go to this auction sale on Sunday tho. So all depends on weather and how well it goes.

SOOOO happy you got your machine working properly!!! Whoo-hooo!!! :thumbup:

I have that machine & do quite well with 14 or 16 needle. I had problems with "cheap" poly batting I bought for laprobes. Only had one thread that didn't work. We did switch to titanium needles.

Finally Finished it! Here are a few pictures! My brother loved it! :) I did all the quilting FMQ on my Grace frame. It is a twin size quilt for his couch.
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I just read the whole thread. I used my Janome 1600p for the first time yesterday on my grace frame and had no end of troubles. I managed to sort out a few but had major problems with thread snapping. It does not like Guterman I discovered, it seems to prefer YLI thread. I tried the 18 needle to start with .I am going to take my first attempt off and reload using 100% cotton wadding today to see if that makes a difference. I may try the spritzing as well. Thank you so much for all the tips. I am going to type them out and laminate them and hang them on my machine to save my hair going any whiter.

I bought the same machine. It does require regular cleaning/oiling and good quality thread. I use Superior, which is all my guild uses on our LA. How often do you change needles? When I had a problem, DH found that I had a tiny burr on my embroidery foot (my fault). He used emory cloth to get rid of the burr. I have switched to platinum needles. They last longer. Use the correct size for the project.

I have this same machine and I have always used Isocord embroidery thread and never had problems with breakage. my machine started doing this a few weeks ago. break and shred. i took it into the shop and they told me it was sewing fine, of course they didn't have it on a frame. after ripping out 9 rows that had skipped stitches broke threads I decided it must be my Sure Stitch regulator so today i unpluged the cords going to the box and left it off about 20 seconds pluged it back in and sewed 4 rows and it never broke a thread or skipped any stitches. sometime it would break three or four times before i got one row.I was ready to give up on my Isacord thread as it is very fine and i thought it was the problem was my thread. wish i had reset my Sure stitch before i had ripped out so many rows.

With my janome I always have to make sure I change the needle often. As long as it has a sharp needle it does not break thread, otherwise it does. I always put a new needle in when I piece a quilt and another new one when I quilt it. Lots of needles and all is well. I do not have to do this with my pfaff.

Serger thread is for sergers...the thread is not as smooth as thread meant for quilting...You may get away with using it but consider if it's for a quilt that will be washed many times as opposed to a hanging quilt..

I have used several brands of thread in mine & no problems. I wounder if there is a burr or nick on foot or on the tension plate?

By overlock thread do you mean thread used on sergers? Not good for quilting.........my understanding is the wrap of serger thread is not continuous...thus a weaker thread...good for serging because of the type of stitch and the fact that there are multiple threads used.......this is what I have been told........

Releasing some tension on the quilt sandwich will not cause puckers as both top and bottom are at the same tension to begin with. Jmho

Signature thread is not made by Superior.

Over locking thread is not heavy enough for quilting. I have been told by dealers to use it but no it is not heavy enough. Also try your needle see if it needs a new one, you may need a bigger needle also.

Courtney, absolutely watch that video. It changed my laptop feel, lol! I did what he said and my stitches have never been so good. Good luck honey. I know it gets frustrating . Take these ladies advice and you'll be good to go.

YES having the top too tight is not good. I use aurifil 50wt thread and have had good luck.