carol45

I'm in the middle of quilting a quilt using my walking foot. Everything was going very smoothly--I had tested the stitches and they looked great (stitches on the left), but now I noticed that they suddenly were looking very bad (stitches on the right). I don't think they're doing any skipping, but the top thread is too loose. I played with the tension setting and it doesn't seem to have any effect. It's been going on for a long time without me noticing--a lot of stitches to pull out :-( Any suggestions?
Thanks!

cjsews

It looks like the issue is with the bobbin. Try taking the bobbin out and reloading it. Make sure the bobbin area is clean.

cashs_mom

I second this and would add that it never hurts to put a new needle in and re-thread.

carol45

OMG!!!! That worked perfectly. I cleaned out the bobbin and vacuumed it, and my stitches came back!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I was getting ready to take it into the shop! I love this board! So much knowledge!!

Iceblossom

I would reset the tension back to what it was to start.

Then I would indeed clean out the bobbin area. I've been amazed how many times when something just started going not right was solved by doing that.

And I would put on a new needle. I buy my needles in bulk and on sale and figure they are cheap compared to my time and my fabric. Even a brand new needle can have a slight manufacturing defect.

So with an overall cleaning and new needle and rethreading -- solves most but not all "it was ok the day before" issues. But we are here if it doesn't!

mkc

If that is the photo from the top side: Bobbin thread peeking through and top stitches as a straight line usually mean top tension is too tight and/or bottom tension too loose.

If adjusting top tension doesn't change things, rethread the machine. Make sure the thread is coming smoothly off the cone or spool (and not caught on something).

If that doesn't help, take the current bobbin out of the case and try reloading it, paying attention to thread path.

If the photo is the back side, the opposite is true and bobbin tension is too tight. Check to make sure the bobbin thread pulls fairly freely. If the top tension is too loose and doesn't change, floss your tension disks - a piece of thread or lint could be holding them apart, not letting them gently squeeze the top thread.

cashs_mom

There truly is, Carol. I've fixed more than one problem by asking/reading here!

Peckish

So glad you got it straightened out!

sewingpup

Glad you got it fixed. I had a friend who would never clean out her machine until it gave her problems. Then she would take it into the shop and they would clean it out and then she would hand them over a check. Cleaning is a good thing to do....been there done that. I saw the light when my tech took my machine and using a Q-tip, dug out a lot....and I mean a lot of dust bunnies living right there in my machine. If you can find some online videos on how to clean your specific machine, it can be very enlighting.. Oh...and don't use compressed air to blow out your machine, that can just make the fuzz go deeper into the innards of the machine. There are some good photos of what happens when you do that on the web too.

carol45

I keep my bobbin pretty clean. Even now, it wasn't very linty, but I guess something must have been stuck in a critical place to have caused this problem.