Pfaff QE4 free-motion question please please help
 

Hi,
I'm trying to be brave and have a go at free motion quilting. I've been a good girl and made up some practise squares but can't seem to sort out how to set up my machine (Pfaff Quilt Expression 4). The manual is little help and pretty basic. There are two settings for free motion in the tool box, one is Sensormatic Free-Motion and the other is Spring Free-Motion. I get bird's nests underneath with Sensormatic and thread breakage with Spring free-motion. What am I doing wrong? It's probably something simple but it's beaten me. I'm using the appropriate foot (open-toed) and dropping the feed dogs. Do I put the stitch length to 0? Please help.
Thanks,
Annie

are you putting the presser lever down...when the foot clears the fabric, it's easy to forget to put the lever down and you will get a bird's nest under the foot every time....and yes, it's fine to put the stitch length at 0... with the dogs down, it shouldn't matter, but there is no harm in setting the length to a low number... every machine is different and some people swear by this and others never do it...try it and see...

I have the same machine and it is a challenge to get it working. Look in you Manuel as to which setting to use. I think without looking that you use the sensormatic with the foot that comes with the machine. I bought another foot that uses the other setting. It is very picky about what thread you use so try various threads. Don't go too fast as it doesn't like that either. You don't have to make any other changes to the machine as.those automatically are set when choosing the free motion setting. I suggest you go to the dealer for a demo and some work time under their guidance. I also find a metallic needle works best. Please fell free to PM me as I feel your pain!

do not change anything such as was mentioned above.

I have this machine too. I have never been able to free motion quilt though. BUT I have tried. I had trouble with threads breaking, I think it would break every 10 in. I was sooooo mad. Took it to the dealer and he told me the machine can't sew through all those layers.... Duh, why would I try to do that. Anyhow he did finally after my persistance find a problem with my bobbin holder, and after that was changed it worked much better. Unfortunately I still can't FM quilt worth a darn!!!!!

Come to think of it the dealer also changed my bobbin holder and it did work 100 per cent better. You can free motion quilt on it. Don't give up.

Hmmmmm. I have the same machine, just bought it in October. I really like the pfaff qe4, the extra space is wonderful and the features are great. I had this same problem with a Christmas quilt I was working on. Don't know what I did wrong........ I ripped the mess out, took a deep breath, drank heavily (not really) put it away for the night and started the next day. maybe the feed dogs aren't down all the way, re thread the machine and check the bobbin.

Oh, sensormatic foot isn't an open toed foot. It is the very small foot that came with the machine. Double check to make sure the feed dogs are down.

Thank you all for your helpful replies. Today is a new day so I'm going to walk the dog along the frosty beach and then try all your suggestions. I'll give it a thorough clean, change the needle, try different threads, check the bobbin and feed dogs etc. Everything always looks better in the morning.
Thanks for taking the time.
This forum is lovely.
Annie

My dealer told me to:

When you go to settings to choose the sensormatic mode, after you select it, a sub menus will come up to allow you to change your pivot height from 0 to -2 or -3. Disengage the automatic foot lift option.

When I learned to do that all the fmq troubles disappeared.

You can purchase an open toed foot for the sensormatic and it works quite well as it gives better visibility