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Help please---I can't get rid of eyelashes. one tutorial says to lower the tension and your stitch length to zero. That didn't work. Put settings back to normal. Another says turning corners to fast. That's not it either. Don't know what to do. Thanks for any help

You are moving the quilt too fast and the machine is sewing too slow.

Try a new needle, my machine always plays up with a blunt needle

I agree, you are moving your hand much to fast for your machine. What size needle are you using? Do you need to change it?

Are the eye lashes on the top or bottom? If they are on the bottom the top thread is being pulled down too far. Either the bottom tension is too tight or the top too loose. Unthread your machine, set all the tensions back to factory settings. Rethread with 2 different colours of thread and put in a scrap of your fabric in the machine. Set to zig zag stitch and work with it until you get the thread rebalanced. Once you've got it rebalanced, try a regular straight stitch.
This sounds like a silly thing but, did you make sure the foot lever was in the down position even if you are FMQ? The thread tension is not engaged if the foot is up. Good luck, the last time mine messed up it took 2 days to get it right again. I hope yours goes quicker.

Call me stupid, but what are eyelashes in relation to quilting? Haven't heard that term yet!

Image of "eyelashing"

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I found this website that says the problem could be both speed and tension.

http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...eshooting.html

"Your problem may be either tension, speed or both.

"Eyelashing" is when your needle thread is pulled to the back of your quilt and is pulled to look just like eyelashes. In fact this is such a good name, for when it happens, you'll know exactly what it is.

Take a look at your quilting so far. Is the eyelashing only on the tight curves? If so, it is quite possible that as you stitch through curves, you unknowingly are increasing the speed of your hands and "whipping" around them. If this is the case, this "whipping" action is pulling on your needle thread and it shows up on the bottom of your quilt.

NOTE: My sewing machine can be set for different maximum speeds. For free motion quilting, I tend to set it at 60% of top speed. That way, once I've warmed up and am relaxed, I can put my foot pedal to the floor and just concern on moving my hands at an even rate...for curves and straight lines, I move my hands at the same speed. It takes a bit of getting used to. There are some shapes, like curves, that one naturally wants to "speed" around. But it leaves me with one less thing to think about while I'm free motion quilting.

Take a practice quilt sandwich made from leftovers from your quilt and do some curvy free motion, but this time pay close attention to the speed you are moving your hands as you go around the curves. Pay close attention to keeping an even speed around those curves. It'll take a bit of practice because you may be "un-learning" a habit and replacing it with another.

Now check for tension quality on both the top and the back. How does it look?

Loops on the back of the quilt mean the needle tension is too loose. Adjust it by increasing the number on your tension dial...a half to a whole number at a time...and then test again. Continue in this manner until you are satisfied.

If the bobbin thread shows on the top, the needle tension is too tight. Reduce the tension number on your machine, again slowly, and testing for each adjustment. Fine tune.

A couple of general suggestions:

Replace your needle with a new one. Needles are so cheap and are the culprit of so many problems.
If possible use the same thread in the needle and bobbin. This results in the fewest adjustments.
Test, test, test. In the long run, testing on a practice sandwich saves time. You find the proper needle, threads and tension for your project before you start so there's no ripping. Take notes right on the practice sandwich and keep them for future reference."

I just got a new machine it's a brother CI6000...i think I'm not at home. Anyways that happened to me and I tried everything and then looked in the manual and found my issue, my machine is picky about thread. I use coats and clark all purpose to piece and on my old brother I used it to quilt small projects and quilts. The new machine it has to be 100% cotton for the FMQ. Have you made sure your thread matches your matieral. Cotton with cotton? Hope this helps..

When this happens on a longarm, it is often because the quilt sandwich is too tight. There must be some flexiblility in the fabric sandwich. If you are using a hoop of some kind, allow for some give in the fabric. It's better for the fabric to flex with your motions, than for the needle to try to do the flexing.

I have a Pfaff grand quilter and this happens on the bottom of the quilt sandwich if I forget to lower the presser foot.