The stitches on the back of my fabric are loose. I understand something is wrong with the tension. Should I put it higher or lower? Any more suggestions?

try to re-thread the machine and bobbin, use a test a piece and see if that helps..

I start from scratch and rethread my machine completely and even put in a new needle. If it persist change thread and put in new bobbin. Increase the tension on the top. Hope this helps:)

Also check for lint in the bobbin case and between the tension discs.

Hi,
Check the tension on your bobbin case. If you go to You Tube there is a video on how to test and adjust your bobbin case. Also adjust your upper thread tension so it is not so tight.

Take a test piece of fabric. Start with the normal thread tension settings, mark on your test piece. As you change each setting, put a line and mark the settings. Go through all the different settings then determine the best setup.

Hope this helps. Keep us updated.

Have a Great Quilty Day!
Pam M

Re-check your threading and your bobbin insertion. Sew or Practice on a small swatch of fabric and see what happens next.

Also, do you have the same thread in the bobbin that you have on top?

yes I have the same thread. I will try all your suggestions. Thank you so much

Do all as above and then try changing the needle if you haven't done so for this project. Each project, check tension, change needle, and always do sample sewing before starting the project. Saves some headache.

I agree this is the best trouble shooting. Check you tension... normal on most machines is between 3-4.

If you are free-motion quilting this is what the guy at my shop told me today. Make sure your presser foot is up when threading the machine. Otherwise, the tension discs are not opened up and it causes looping on the back of the quilt. I found this out by error and called them for help today.

Good luck hon.... (((( hugs)))

thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestions.

When I took my quilting class, we took a plain muslin sandwich block and drew lines across the top in 1" increments and marked each line, starting with 1. (Mine ended with 9 because that was the highest number for my tension)

Then we set the tension to "1" and sewed ACROSS those lines from 1 to 2. At 2, we changed the tension to "2" and sewed to line 3. (and so on)

When you have sewn with ALL of the tension settings, you can easily review what your machine does and which tension settings work best with that batting.

We were encouraged to try the same nethod using different threads, needles, and batting.