i'm a new machine quilter(home machine, not long arm) i'm using monofilament on top(top has a lot of white background) the back is black and i'm using black cotton thread in the bobbin and no matter what i do i still get pop ups and if i use white thread in bobbin the back looks messy. what to do?
thanks for any suggestions . :?

new member
molly oldham

I am going to venture a guess at this. I am no expert but I have a little experience with this. I do know that when you use monofilament thread the tension has to be loosened on the top. Also, maybe your quilting motion is either too slow or too fast compared to the speed of your machine. But then sometimes cotton thread and monofilament just don't mix.

I may be that you need to adjust your tension. I don't use the monofilament stuff any more, I hated working with it. Also, do you have the spool on your machine or do you have a separate thread holder, sometimes that stuff needs a little space to "relax". Some of the ladies will drop the spool in a canning jar or something like that and it gives is more space to unwind.

Oh one more thing. Have you tried using monofilament in the bobbin as well as on top? You could use the smoke color on the back and the clear on the front. Just a thought.

Oh, and by the way, welcome to the quilting board. There are lots of wonderful people who are glad to help you with your every quilting questions.

thanks for the tip. i guess i want my quilting to look like harriet hargraves.(it doesn't) i get so frustrated. i think i just need to relax and enjoy the process. :D

well, i haven't solved the problem of the pop ups even tho i worked with the tension thing, changed the throat plate and needle but i did try using the monofilament in the bobbin as well as top. i think that is what i'll be doing. there will only be a small amount of free motion in the white background portion anyway. major quilting will be in the ditch. my goal in quilting is to learn how to do feathers, shells etc.( keeping my stitches even) as i said earlier i use a just a regular machine & i can't handle a full size quilt so i've used the quilting in sections method. i'm not crazy about it but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. i have 6 children and i made them each a quilt for Christmas using that method. i'm now working on a quilt using Betty Cotton's Cotton Theory system. has anyone tried that?