pamkasperi

I have an Babylock Esante Es2

When I changed from the regular presser foot to the walking foot - I had to move the tension all the way down to keep the material from puckering and pulling.

Now I've bought a FMQ attachment.

I can't get the tension right...no matter where I set it, I am either breaking a needle or the bobbin thread is pulling through from the bottom....

HELP??

PaperPrincess

HMM, that sounds strange, especially the walking foot. Is there a dealer near you that you could go to for help? Breaking a needle can be that the tension is way too high, OR the needle is getting caught in the fabric and when you move the fabric it either breaks the needle or bends it a bit and it hits the foot plate. Bobbin thread pulling up sounds like the thread tension is too high. Are your feed dogs down? If you don't get additonal replies, try reposting with the name of your machine in the title.

Scissor Queen

Most FMQ problems are not the tension. They're your coordination at moving the quilt and getting the speed right. Fast machine, slow hands. Tons of practice!

pamkasperi

I THINK I have figured it out - did lower the feed dogs

but on my machine - the tension is automatic and digital - I was taking it the wrong direction (reading the manual helps)....AND everything I have read says to set the stich length to zero - well I did that but apparently on this machine that just makes the stiches closer and tigher - when I set it to 4 which was the highest it would go - the bobbin thread stopped popping through and I haven't broken a needle in 30 minutes!

I'm going to keep playing and hope figuring this out is worth it!