When this happens to me on my Singer, it's because I did not have the free motion foot in the down position. It's easy to forget because the foot never really touches the fabric, but it makes a BIG difference if you forget to lower that foot! Good luck with your "free styling" as my DD calls it!

Machine quilting does not do well on auto tension as the foot is gliding above the fabric instead of setting down on it as you do with regular sewing - Also I found it takes a fairly high tension to get rid of the eyelashes. Now what I do is make a small sandwitch with some of the scrap and the same batting and sew and get the tension right on it, then do my project. Best of Luck!

HilaryK8, I hope you are feeling better about your first meandering. Did you notice how many of us know exactly what you are experiencing? We've been there-done that. You are getting good advice. I would suggest that you always warm up with a practice sandwich. That way you can adjust the tension or your speed without taking out stitches. Good luck!

I agree! This is not a ternsion problem. The problem is that you are going to fast on the curves. Try slowing down when you do curves both with your machine speed and how you move the fabric. also do not worry aboiut small eyelashes since they will probable disappear when quilt is washed and becomes puckered.

You are going around the curve to fast.

I don't agree, I think it is both tension and speed. I see areas on the straight aways and curves where the OP does not have obvious eyelashing but DOES have a tension issue, I can see the little bumps of top thread sitting on top of the bobbin thread quite clearly in her picture. The real bad eyelashing is going too fast with hands and too slow on the foot control pedal (or if she has an automatic speed setting on that machine, it is set too slow). The OP needs to do all of the above. She needs to adjust her tension in the top (it is way too loose), she needs to increase her machine's needle speed and needs to slow down a bit with her hands.

Original Poster, here is a handy diagram for you to better understand your tension issues

http://www.superiorthreads.com/educa...-tension-works

For your practice piece, load a high contrast thread in your bobbin from your top thread. Also have both threads be in high contrast from your sample sandwich fabric. Then it will very easy for you to see where your problems are. If you have red in your bobbin, white in your top and stitch on a solid dark fabric you should be able to work out your tension issues for FMQ very quickly.

Tension problem.

I get eyelashes when I forget to put the presser foot down - an easy mistake since fmq feet don't sit all the way down until the needle comes down. Just say "Mr. Seam Ripper is my friend". The good news is that it is very easy to rip those stitches out.

actually this may also a tension problem. If you look closly you will see that with all the stitching you can see the top thread /it is pulled to the bottom( this looks like the backing). this means that the bottom tension is too tight therefore pulling the top thread to the bottom. I was taught as a home sewer to test the maching tensions by sewing a straight line on the bias/diaginal. Then gently tub on the corners and see if either thread breaks. If the tension is good then no thread should break. If the top thread breaks then the top tension is too tight , if the bottom thread breaks then the bottom tensions is too tight. I was also taught to try fixing the problem by adjusting the top thread and never mess with the bottom tension.

Take your fabric or fabric sandwich and sew a straight line. Check your stitches, Tension OK?
THEN DON'T TOUCH YOUR TENSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These eyelashes are caused by your hands moving faster than your machine is sewing. This happens primarily on tight curves. Either slow your hand movement down or speed up your machine.

Since the eyelashes are on the back side and you think the loops will catch on your machine, then just line it and forget about taking out the stitches.
Diana in TX