Thread issues?
 

I am in the middle of a piano topper and all of a sudden the bottom tension (doing FMQ) is a mess! I was quilting along and doing fine, and now the thread keeps bunching up and even coming out of the needle as well (how does it do that?) I have done nothing to the tension at top or bottom. I am using an old kenmore (34 yrs old) and it has been great. I changed the needle, put another bobbin of thread in, cleaned out the bobbin section and top plate, my feed dogs are down, what the heck? It seems to work fine of a swatch of just fabric but not with the quilt out of the blue. Any ideas?

I had this happen using my Bernina ... What I did was oil the bobbin ...

This has happened to me also. The first thing I have learned to do (after blood sweat and tears) is to take the threat out and retread the machine. Then sew on a scrap to check the stitching. Good luck.

Yep, I've had this happen with thread before -- spendy stuff, too. If you clean up and rethread the machine and it's still happening, change the thread and see if it's still a problem. If not, bingo.

How do you tell? it is just a regular spool of coats and clark 100% all purpose cotton thread. It stands up on a pin. I guess what I am saying is that I am not sure what stacked or cross threaded means. I feel silly lol

I will try the oiling of the bobbin and now that I think of it, it was when I changed thread I had to buy at Wal Mart because I ran out and the fabric shop is not nearby. Wouldn't Coats and Clark be the same no matter where I bought it? I wonder if they do different qualities depending on where it is sold and at what price point? Thanks for all the advice. I will try it all and see if I can figure out what is happening. I will also try to rethread the top thread and see if indeed there is something impeding it from feeding properly into the machine. Weird that this would happen half way through. Well not even small quilts are without their issues I guess. I sure am learning alot though as a semi-new quilter. Thanks everyone!

Usually I have a build up of lint in bobbin area...

Try putting the pressure foot down. That is ALWAYS what I forget to do when I go from the sample to the real deal. Always went through all the steps, rethread, clean, change needle, etc with growing frustration.....

Where is the thread bunching - are you getting nests under your fabric? If this is the problem, your issue is NOT with your bobbin thread, it is with your top thread. Take ALL the thread completely off your machine and re-thread. Make sure there are no little threads stuck in your tension disks. Make sure your thread isn't getting caught on something. Sometimes my upper thread gets hung up on the handle.

Wouldn't hurt to re-thread your bobbin also, check under the spring in your bobbin to make sure there's no thread stuck there, either.

What size needle are you using? You might consider going up a size, especially if you're doing FMQ.

Regarding the thread - "stacked" means it comes off the spool evenly, from top to bottom. "Cross threaded" means it crosses up and down the spool as it's wound. If you're using C&C, it's stacked.