Sporadic Eyelashes -- Need Help
 

I'm working on a quilt for my granddaughter's college graduation and am under a time crunch.

When I rolled the quilt on my longarm there are sporadic eyelashes. It appears to go along just fine and then an eyelash appears. There are too many to ignore so I am ripping it out. Ugh. But, what can I do to prevent this from happening when I start quilting it again?

I thought maybe tension, but since some is good, if I adjust the tension won't that mess up the part that is good? I use the TOWA gauge and the tension is what has worked for me for many years. Any idea what is causing it and how to prevent it??

if the eyelashes appeared on the curves, I'd say it was that you were stitching too fast, but since they're most often in the straighter sections, it may be the tension. Have previous quilts had the same batting/fabric combination?

I've had this happen. I found that it is my bobbin not fitting correctly in the bobbin case... had the wrong bobbin. Once I matched it correctly, the condition shown disappears.

I had that problem, with me it was when I swooped to the left not the right in free motion. I started to make certain I went slower and it disappeared.

It seems to happen mostly when you are ready to change direction. I wonder if it's the speed also. Sorry you have to get out the ripper.

I was thinking fluff on/around/in the bobbin area maybe?

how heartbreaking!! I don't have an answer, but I feel your pain. I find that sometimes I just pull everything apart and clean everything good and rethread everything and that seems to help me

I wish I had an answer for you. All I can think of is to rethread, clean out the bobbin area, and try a different bobbin. Not much help, huh...

Dina

It looks like your top tension is intermittently changing which would suggest to me that the top thread might be jumping out of the tension discs and back in again. Check your thread path to see if the thread is getting caught up on anything to cause this and that your thread is flossed securely in the tension discs and that there isn't fuzz in them to give the bad tension. Do you use a thread net so your thread doesn't inadvertently slip down the cone and get caught on the underside of your cone? Good luck and hope you have it solved. Tension issues can be a bear and are certainly the bane of my existence some days.