On my Sapphire 830. I watched the instructional video again and set as recommended. It won't work. The bobbin thread turns into a rats nest every single time. I have rethreaded everything SEVERAL times, I just replaced the needle last week and haven't sewn much since then. Each time the needle goes down I can hear the clicking of the bobbin and a sound like it's just spinning. I then changed all the settings back to normal and tried to sew a straight line, still a rats nest. I turned it off and back on and it sewed straight just fine. Set it to FMQ again.... Nope, rats nest.

Have you tried rewinding the bobbin?

I've only struck this problem once, and it seems the bobbin wasn't wound with enough tension.
The course I did a couple of weeks ago, one of the things they said was that the bobbin needs to be firmer than it does for normal sewing.

Are you sure that you have lowered the foot?

I didn't think it could possibly make a difference, and once the quilt is in the machine, you put your needle down to bring up the bobbin thread ...
take a couple of stitches in place and then go off to the races, but WAIT!
Did you lower the foot? (Can you guess how I know that??? LOL)

That was going to be my question as well, Are you sure that you lowered the presser foot. Pull your bobbin thread up to the top and hold it to one side, Lower the presser foot, hang on to the loose threads and let 'er go!

Been there and done that myself! :( :?

Yes, the foot is lowered. I bring up the bobbin thread too. I can move the fabric quite easily... until it's so tangled that some thread finally breaks.

I will try a new bobbin this weekend.

I'm lucky, my machine won't sew till the foot is down.

Good luck, I hope you get it sorted. It's sooooo frustrating when you can't find what's causing the problem. Apparently some machines need everything perfect, and some are more forgiving.

Wish I could help you Pam, but I'm still wading into the FMQ thing. I took a class about 5 years ago, and have been terrified ever since. It's one of the reasons I bought the Bernina so I could have the advantage of the Stitch Regulator.

Where did you get your machine? If it was Sewing Machine Shop in WC, they are great about helping to problem solve!

Good luck - sorry you're running into this mess. It's frustrating and depressing when all you want to do is create!!

Oh dear, that's the same problem i had with the last tote bag i made a couple weeks ago, it kept gobbing up underneath, the only saving grace was that the lining of the bag covered up the mess. I've been doing straight sewing since, and played with my tension a bit, its doing good for straight sewing, im thinking of trying some freemotion again on just a scrap piece. I find it does it sometimes too if i'm just moving the fabric a bit too fast. Hope it works out for you

Are you using the little "R" foot or the spring embroidery foot? Did you drop the feed dogs? And did you set the menu to Free M Floating OR the Free M spring action to match the foot? I find that I have to play around with the tension as well even though it's supposed to have the fabric advisor ... I have the 870 & when I change to the Free M Spring Action it drops the tension to 3 .... I practice & usually end up by increasing it to about 4.8 ... it seems odd but otherwise I can't seem to get it to work. HTH

Yes, used the R foot. Yes, dropped the feed dogs. Yes, set it to FMQ on the display. I tried adjusting the tension down and the bobbin thread was pulling the top thread WAY through the bottom. I tried setting it up and that didn't do any better.

Is there a setting for tension on the display? I only know of the roller lever tension at the top where the needle thread is.