Quilting on longarm
 

Last night I was quilting got one row done and working on the second when ran out of bobbin thread. Well I did not thing anything about it just put in a new bobbin and kept going. When I went to roll the quilt I noticed right where I ran out of bobbin thread there were big stitches and looked awful. So took the quilt off the frame and ripped out the bad stuff. When I looked at the bobbin the thread was wrapped around the tip of the bobbin. Well got quilt back on the frame and quilted it was fine. So lesson learnt check quilting after any change.

i learn most of my lessons the hard way, too!

Thank you for sharing this.

I am reading every tip I can find about LAQ, I will be setting up my new to me system next week.

I am sure I will learn my own lessons over the next few months.

Yes, I too learn the hard way - and you would think that I would know that by now! Another thing I have learned to check with each advancement of the quilt is to look for wrinkles on the back side and straighten them out before I quilt them in. And yet another thing is if I am quilting a pantograph pattern I need to remember that each time I roll the quilt I need to make a trail run down the length of the pattern without stitching with thread to make sure I have rolled far enough but not to far. Congrats on your setup, relax and have a great time!!

I learned the same thing you did very quickly. I check the stitching on a side piece before I go back to the real quilt. Then I quilt about 4 to 6 inches and look at it underneath.

Something I learned about ripping. I roll my quilt until the bad stitching is on the top of the roller and then I rip standing up without taking the quilt off the long arm, then I just roll it back into place to start again. Takes a lot less time than taking it off and then putting it back on and then lining it up again.

Edited to add: Forgot to say that I pull off the thread off the top after I roll the quilt back in place and lined up again. That little bit of thread does help with getting it lined up again.

I also learned that when changing thread color, be sure that the thread is snug in the the tension discs.

One day I ran out of bobbin thread and needed to take the spool that was on the machine...wound the bobbin, returned the cone to the machine, tied the end of the thread and pulled it through, threaded the needle and proceeded to quilt....half way down the row something sounded funny....loopy bottom...yes, i had not checked the tension disc..

Lesson learned.

I think I've learned all these lessons the hard way too! I've found that if I use my Towa gauge with each bobbin, not just the first one, I do much better.

I also try to "unstitch" while still on the frame like Barb in LA does--and hopefully, what I'm taking out is because the bobbin tension was screwy and not because of a tuck--those usually mean removing from the frame.

Thanks for all of these tips. I just got my new Simply 16 set up last week. I get my rear handles next week.

I do too. We hopefully learn from our mistakes! :)

Yes, lesson one should be check bobbin our for lint-our four letter word!- and make sure bobbin is sitting right and hasn't spun the thread around itself.