Buckeye Rose

Can you see me banging my head on the wall in frustration? I just took my machine in for a good cleaning and to fix tension problems on January 31 and now she is back to the same tricks. It does fine on straightline stitching, but fmq is another story. The stitches look good on top, but on the bottom there is eyelashing. Adjusting the tension dial makes very little difference in eyelashing. I am using the blue marked bobbin case and Connecting Threads 50 wt. thread top and bottom. Is there anyone else out there who has any experience with this problem? I am very reluctanct to take it back to the same place for repairs when he basically said it was because I was using too heavy thread. Really? There has to be another reason....a $1500 machine should be able to handle different weights of thread.

Nammie to 7

Many times the eyelashing is due to the movement during the FMQ. The fabric may be going too fast for the stitches. I think that is such an art - my machine has a stitch regulator so it pretty much eliminates that problem. What size and kind of thread are you using - and what size needle?

Tartan

If you are confident that you are not moving the sandwich too fast for the sewing speed, then it must be the tension or thread. Put 2 different coloured threads in the top and bobbin and sew straight seams to check if you have a balanced stitch. If that looks good do a zig zag stitch and check for a balance stitch. If your stitch looks good then it should work for FMQ. You can try different threads and see if it makes any difference.

Scissor Queen

I hate to say this but, it's you not the machine. Eyelashes are caused by moving the quilt sandwich too fast and the needle going too slow.

crafty pat

Make sure you have the same weight thread in the top and bottom, the right size needle for that weight of thread and slow down. Practice on a sandwich of scraps until you get the feel of the speed that is right for your machine. Good luck.

Candace

Many people and machines don't like CT thread because it's so heavy. Try a different thread. And also try leaving your feed dogs up. Many machines tension is better if you leave them up. Lots of quilters do this.

QuiltE

ditto

Eyelashing is operator oriented more so than any other reason.
As ScissorQ suggested, try slowing down your movement of your sandwich and/or speed up the needle!

Did you try the other thread that was suggested to you by your dealer? Try it ... and then when you go back to them, you can at least say you did what was suggested.

If you can't sort it out yourself, ask your dealer for a FMQ lesson. And stay there til you feel confident in what you are doing.

PaperPrincess

Also, MAKE SURE THE PRESSER FOOT IS DOWN! (Ask me how I know)

Remember: Fast foot (machine speed) slow hands (move fabric slowly)

gigi712

I had that same problem. Changed to Auriful 50 wt and problem solved.

Buckeye Rose

It isn't moving the fabric too fast, because it does it when I move slower....I just end up with tiny eyelashes...lol....I will have to try a different thread for fmq.....my machine will not let me sew without the feed dogs down, it beeps at me!