Railroadersbrat

So, I was a goof and texted a few people the pictures I took of the chicken pincushions I did over this last VQW and suddenly, I had two more to make. I didn't think anything of it, of course I'd love to make sure everyone has a cool chicken pincushion, so I sat down to make the first one without even blinking twice.

I did all the hand sewing first, it's a great way to pass the time watching YouTube videos, then interfaced everything, applied Heat and Bond on everything else and proceeded into the machine sewing. I have a stitch that mimics hand sewing, which I fell in love with so hard, my fiancé is saying that I should use it to piece my next quilt because it's such a strong seam and I just might.

Skip ahead a little, I'm getting ready to start the next seam on the chicken's body and I jam up. No big deal, I pull the chicken off, clear out the bird's nest, rethread the top and the bobbin, try it again, it jams up again. To make a long story short, I spend the rest of the evening trying to find the problem and I get so frustrated that I unplug the machine, set it off to the side, pulled out my big girl and finished the pincushion.

Today, since my fiancé is finally able to get out of the house and over to a friend's to check in on her and make sure she's doing okay after that Arctic blast (she's in her early 70s, we kept in daily touch with her, but I always send him over after something like this for visual confirmation she's okay), I thought 'okay, going to try this again'. Pulled the machine out, pulled off the needle plate, checked everything on the inside, I find a thread. I really need to get some long tweezers, it was a pain to get to with a small screwdriver but I finally did and pulled it out. Less than an inch long, I'm a little puzzled by the fact that this little piece of thread was such an issue, but I throw it away, clean out the race since I was there, a couple dots of oil where they're supposed to go, rethread my machine, get a new bobbin in and test it. No issues, it's purring like a kitten again.

What still puzzles me is, could a three-quarters of an inch of thread jam up my new machine? I can see an issue with the bobbin, which after I looked at the one that was in it at the time of the jam, it wasn't completely threaded correctly and I know that my Dressmaker will throw an absolute hissy fit if I use one like that. The piece of thread was in a location that it might have caused an issue, but I'm still a little confused. Any thoughts?

Tartan

If the piece of thread impedes the machines ability to create a stitch, it will cause a nest. The piece can effect the timing.

Onebyone

My friend has a new Bernina and one little piece of thread cost her $250 to have taken out and everything back to working order and took two weeks in the shop. It happened again a few months later. The tech said its a known problem with the newer high end machines.

SuzzyQ

Short answer - yep! New machines are super fussy.

sewingsuz

I will keep my old machines, thank you!

Rhonda K

Yes, that piece of thread can and will cause a jam.

Railroadersbrat

Okay, well, after my latest experience with the machine and everyone's responses, I'm going to have to say, it looks like I have a super, super fussy machine and it only strengthens my belief that I'll only be able to use it to piece quilt tops and nothing heavy duty.

My nine-patch quilt was sadly a victim of a laundromat's answer to a shredder, almost the entire binding was just shredded to pieces and with the fiancé gone, I figured I'd be able to put a bigger binding on it and call it a night. I was using that same hand-sewn stitch that I'm now starting to hate, was almost three quarters of the way around the quilt and the machine jammed up again. I wasn't about to spend the night trying to clear it out, I used a black binding, so therefore, I'm using a black thread and without a good, small flashlight, it's going to have to wait until the sun is up for me to clear the jam. It's back in the same corner and out comes the big girl. I was able to finish putting the binding on, took a break, I'm now getting it folded over and zig zagged (I'm going around it twice and the fiancé is banned from taking it to that same laundromat again when it needs washed, I'm not going to have that happen again), took another break to soothe my nerves with some dark chocolate and coffee and jumped on here.

Maybe the machine has an issue with the stitch I'm using? I am using a walking foot, so maybe the stitch and the walking foot aren't playing nice? What a conundrum!

Rhonda K

The original "jam" may have damaged the bobbin case. Can you adjust the stitch length or width? Sometimes the stitches need to be longer to work with the rhythm of the walking foot.

Can you adjust the speed of the machine? Try going slower with stitching as see if that helps.

Karamarie

Little threads that are not where they are supposed to be can cause a big problem. I have learned that from experience, believe me.

juliasb

I have a fussy machine that create a bird's nest if I am not on the fabric with the very first stitch! It is so frustrating but I am getting better at catching that first stitch. Always check for a loose thread that gets into the bobbin case or under it. Those pieces of thread can be easy to remove but a night mare for you.