Machine quilting

Heather:
One more thing. . . .
Recently I was having trouble with the tension of my machine, couldn't get the darn thing to sew 2 inches without bumps and lumps in the stiching.
After an exaustive trial of tension in top and bottom, a different thread in the top, etc I quit for the day. The next day I had one of those AH-HA moments, and put in a different bobbin, this happened to be a pre-wound one. It worked like a charm.
Maybe try a different bobbin, if you wind your own, wind another from another spool.
It might work, it worth a shot.
Sara in Fla.

Breaking thread

Heather, I tried to do a comment to your post, but it went out into the ethernet somewhere, so I'll post one of my own.

I had a lot of trouble when quilting with poly thread (I use a Brother PQ1500, which is a high speed machine). Turns out that when the tension plates get hot from the thread moving through at a high rate of speed, the poly thread starts to melt and weakens to the point where it breaks when going through the needle. I usually use 100% cotton now unless there is a specific thread that I need to use for an effect.

When I took a MQ class from Harriet Hargrave a few years ago, she recommended a Schmetz 75/11 Stretch needle for those threads. Not sure why, but that needle really does seem to work.

Kathi

Feedback

First of all, THANK-YOU to everyone who gave me a suggestion to try....and yes Judy Iam always curious too as to what worked for someone........I just wish I could remember the solutions when I need them !!

My thread is a polyester (Guterman) 100 % I wasn't clear when I mentioned the 100 % good quality cotton.....I meant the material ! I changed the needle again to the suggested embroidery size, that helped a bit.....I didn't have any sewer's aid so will have to wait to try that, I reread the manual for the Sapphire 830 and rethreaded both machine and rewound the bobbin and tried to keep the machine speed at a moderate level but still ended up with problems......I am suspecting my thread might be older than I thought, because even on the old reliable Kenmore that always free motioned without any glitches I had a couple of thread breaks, but not as many as the Sapphire......so this weekend I am going to try the quilt shop just across the MN border to see if they might have Sewer's Aid but am going to do a bit of further research to make sure my machine won't be "scarred for life" if I use it.....my DH suggested maybe spraying the thread spool with WD-40 after hearing a few loud adjectives emitting from the sewing room !
Even he knew that wasn't an option but do give points for trying to solve the issue......after all he was the one who figured out how to thread the serger when I had given up !!

I have a quilting buddy who is very familar with the husqvarna machines and she is lined up to help figure out if it is the operator not the machine who is at fault.

Once again thanks for the insights......this board has been quiet of late......what is everyone up to.....we are finally feeling like we might be having some summer weather after weeks of cooler than norm temps and too too much rain.......I am trying to gear up my sewing to think forward to Christmas gifts, but not much motivation when it's nice outside !!

Question For Heather

Heather, did the answers you received to your question about your breaking thread prove to be helpful?? What worked for you?

I'm always curious about the end of the story because sometimes there's a problem with the thread itself (old thread, thread from the bargain counter, etc.). Some times you will find that some threads just are not meant to be used for high-speed free motion work.

Judy in Ohio

Free Motion Quilting

I am hoping that someone will have an answer for me........I seem to recall that someone hopefully here mentioned some type of product that a drop was used on your spool of thread that helped the thread glide more smoothly from the spool.....I have tried all of the tricks I think with changing the needle, making sure the feed dogs are lowered etc etc but the problem seems to be the thread......and I would like to really use this thread on this fabric.....which is a great quality quilting cotton......any ideas or suggestions ??? Thanks.....