Long Arm Rookies Need Emergency Help...Stat!!! Please....
 

My cousin and I made a tribute quilt for the family of a young man that was killed while towing a car off the interstate. The center was designed by his young daughter. We started quilting it without problem and are about half down. Suddenly the needle broke and we replaced it. Then we promptly got a thread snarl underneath. We are using a Baileys home quilter 17 Pro. We have changed bobbins and needles and thread and are now at a complete loss as to what to do next....oh and we have to have it done by Friday.
Any advice is much appreciated. This is the first quilt we have quilted on the Bailey, although we did a practice one that worked fine.

What a great quilt! I am sorry that I know nothing that would be helpful, but I am sure there are those here who do.

Dina

Is the needle in backwards? It happens.

Thanks.. I wish it wasn't for such a sad reason.

Think we have it fixed, by lowering the upper tension drastically. Lower than I would usually but it seems to be working.

completely un thread the top thread and re thread it some times it jumps out of the tension. make sure your needle is in correct and in all of the way. Other wise it could have been knocked out of time

Oh boy... re threaded and changed needles again then the thread started breaking about every 14 inches of sewing and then we broke another needle! Hopefully its not the timing... any other ideas?

Take thread and bobbin case out. Clean bobbin area as well as you possibly can. If possible, use a magnifying glass to look for a tiny snippet of thread that may have become caught in the bobbin area. Take the bobbin out of the bobbin case and check the bobbin case for any tiny bit of thread or lint, especially where the spring is located in the bobbin case. Make sure the bobbin is tightly and evenly wound.

Clean between the upper tension discs by loosening the tension (make note of where it is before you change it), then using *unwaxed* dental floss to floss between the discs. If there is any tiny piece of thread or lint in there, this should remove it. Change upper tension back to where it was.

Replace needle, making sure it is *all the way up* in the shaft and positioned correctly.

Run your finger around the throat plate hole to check for burrs. The breaking needles may have nicked the hole just enough to cause thread to shred.

When re-threading, be sure presser foot is in up position and make sure that the upper thread gets positioned correctly between the tension discs.

After threading, run the machine very slowly and watch carefully (using protective eyewear!!!) to see what is happening as you move the machine. You can rig up a test sandwich strip to the side of the quilt to give you some space to test out the quilting; just pin a sandwich strip between rollers.

Honestly, what it sounds like to me is that the first break resulted in a tiny piece of thread getting caught somewhere in the mechanism -- most likely the bobbin area. These tiny pieces of thread can be *really* difficult to spot, but they are the demons that change the tension on you unexpectedly -- which is probably why you had to drastically reduce the top tension after the first needle break. When you do spot one, it can be difficult to remove even with tweezers. Soaking the thread in a drop of sewing machine oil can help soften it up enough to remove it strand-by-strand.

Edit: Also look for a tiny needle tip imbedded somewhere in the bobbin area.

What size needle are you using? You may need to go up a size, say from a 16 to an 18. Also, make sure your quilt sandwich is smooth but not tight on the frame. You should be able to grab the end of a finger with your other hand though the quilt top when you push it up from underneath the quilt sandwich. Also, make sure you are not trying to move too fast for the speed of the machine.

Make sure your thread is flossed in the tension disc.