Deborahlees

I think that we must not sit passively by and do nothing....we are important....and Bernina is a big company that has been around awhile....I complained I got the attention of the company, I got my machine fixed and because they listened to me....I am a happy Bernina user....
I think it is very important to voice an opinion and be heard.....

Kas

Rachel, is it only doing this when you use the BSR? Have you tried without it? I never use mine. My quilting is much better (not completely even or perfect) without it and you are so talented, I know yours would be even better still! If it is doing it without the BSR, you need to bring the machine to the dealer and make them satisfy you. Take your sandwich and have them thread, wind the bobbin, all that to see it isn't you, but the machine.

Rachelcb80

Gosh, thanks for the compliment, you made me smile. :)

As of right now the skipping is just with the BSR because I don't have another foot for quilting to try. ($7k for a machine and it doesn't even come with a plain quilting/darning foot. I liked the foot selection much more on the 440.) I don't have the BSR plugged in though so the machine is in regular sewing mode and I just dialed the stitch length down to 0. I ordered a plain darning/quilting foot earlier this week that will hopefully be here today or tomorrow. I'm going to try it on my machine and see if that eliminates the skipping. If that doesn't help anything then I'll get more serious with my dealer. At this point I don't want to demand any fixes if the problem only lies in the BSR. If the machine will work in all other areas and the BSR is my only trouble then I'll live with that.

Deborahlees

So Rachel, it is a new day, how is the machine...did your new foot arrive....are you still pulling out your hair....

k3n

Hi Rachel, sounds to me like you're doing eveything right and from your stitches where there are no nests, I can't imagine it's your ineptitude at FMQ as they are fabulous! I FMQ with King Tut in the top and BL in the bobbin with no issues (I have a Janome 6600) so I don't agree that it can be because one is cotton and one poly or that they are 'unbalanced' - I nearly always use BL in the bobbin and cotton in the top and BL behaves with everything, even heavy decorative rayons. If it was a tension issue, I think your stitches wouldn't be so good between nests, it would be consistently off. A machine of this quality should not need any bobbin washer gizmos - those are intended for machines that aren't really calibrated for FMQ. I assume you're using proper Bernina bobbins and not universal ones? So I think it's either a fault with the machine or a burr in the bobbin case or something stuck in there somewhere. I would say give it all a good clean (I know you said you have but I'd do it again!). Wind a new bobbin full of BL, put in a new needle and rethread the top. In other words, eliminate eveything possible from the operator error category. And then go to work on a practice sandwich of the same fabrics and batting as your quilt. If it STILL does it, then it needs a Bernina registered dealer. I hope that is helpful, I FEEL your pain. :-( :D

Deborahlees

So have you gone into your dealer, stood in front of the owner, and had your say yet....

Rachelcb80

My new, regular quilting foot came in the mail today. I cleaned the machine well, oiled, put in a new needle and rethreaded everything. I quilted for a good while and didn't get any nests or skips. I'm actually not totally surprised that the skipping is gone with the use of a regular FMQ foot. I'm convinced there is a design flaw with the BSR and I'm far from the only person who's had issues with it. It didn't work right with my 440 and doesn't work with this 820. As for the thread nests on the back, who knows. So many of you posted about simple fixes like rethreading and needle changes. I guessed after a few days of changing things I finally changed whatever was causing the problem. Course I'm not holding my breath thinking all will stay well. This is a picky, temperamental machine and it seems to have very narrow tolerances.

Thanks to everyone for your help and support!

tinker

I found when I change direction too fast that is when I get the birdnest problem Tinker

Kas

Well, it sounds like the BSR. I won't talk too bad about them though since it was the magic fix of the BSR that finally got my DH to buy me the 640! Well, that and the grand off the price + the embroidery unit (which I have only looked at in 5 years!) thrown in! And yes, your quilting is just fab. You don't need the stinking BSR anyway!

annesthreads

That's aa useful site - thanks for the link.