Tag: quilting tips

Quilting Tip #7: Hot Stuff and Idiosyncrasy

Posted on by Mary Vaneecke

Who knew?  Thread shredding can also be caused by an overheated needle.  You may find that some of the lustrous, beautiful, finer trilobal polyester threads (and yes, I am talking about Rainbows here, among others) will shred while you are going at high speeds.  If this is happening to you, get your needle going at top speed for a good while while threaded, then stop the machine and touch your needle.  Is it very hot?  That may be your culprit.

You have a few options.  One is slowing your machine down–both you, if you have a stitch regulator, and the machine, if you are using a high ‘cruise’ speed.  Increasing your stitch length can help (longer stitch length = fewer stitches = slower speed).   That’s easy to say, not so easy to do.

Another option is to switch to cotton or silk thread, which won’t be quite as affected by higher temperatures/speeds.

It also helps to understand that this problem will be worse stitching from right to left–and especially from front right to back left–as you face the machine.  It is just one of those idiosyncrasies of design that can make you idiosyncrazy.  (Hey, I think I just made up a new word!  def:  adj., both idiotic and crazy simultaneously)  So, avoid stitching towards the left for long periods.  You can try stitching a line from left to right, ending the stitch line, and starting the next one left to right again (instead of stitching right to left).

What makes you idiosyncrazy about quilting?  I will try to answer it in a future post!

 

Quilting Tip #5–Blasphemy!

Posted on by Mary Vaneecke

Another tip for the bobbin case:  If  you are having inexplicable problems with too-high bobbin tension, try carefully running a very fine straight silk pin under the thread guide of the bobbin case, from back to front.  Lint will frequently build up here and it is usually impossible to see without removing the guide and/or removing the bobbin from the case and looking inside.

Yes.  I admit that this is an unorthodox way to remove lint.  Bless me father, for I have sinned…  But it is the most surefire way to remove all the lint I can’t see.  I have never had a problem ruining a bobbin case this way, and I have used this method literally thousands of times.

Okay, you must be VERY careful not to scratch the metal of the bobbin case along the thread path.  (This is why you need a very fine pin.)  Start at the back of the thread guide, where there is a slight gap between the guide and the bobbin case.  Pull the pin underneath the guide along its length.  If you have been using a low-mid quality thread, you will have quite a lint ball, as in the photo.  You will have less if you have been using an extra long staple Egyptian cotton, for instance.

This series of photos shows you how to clear lint from your bobbin case.

Here the bobbin case is removed from the machine. We can suspect there is some serious lint inside based on what we see here.
Here the bobbin case is removed from the machine. We can suspect there is some serious lint inside based on what we see here.

 

Oh, yeah. There's a big clot of lint where the thread meets the metal. We didn't see that from the outside of the bobbin case, did we?
Oh, yeah. There’s a big clot of lint where the thread meets the metal. We didn’t see that from the outside of the bobbin case, did we?

 

Now here is the blasphemy: insert a fine IBC silk pin where there is a gap between the adjustable guide and the bobbin case.
Now here is the blasphemy: insert a fine IBC silk pin where there is a gap between the adjustable guide and the bobbin case.
Pull the pin along the guide. It will drag the lint with it. Sometimes you need to do this 2x to get all the lint.
Pull the pin along the guide. It will drag the lint with it. Sometimes you need to do this 2x to get all the lint.

 

Now the big clot is gone. You need to check the other nooks and crannies; blow, brush, or tap the remaining lint from the case and you are good to go.
Now the big clot is gone. You need to check the other nooks and crannies; blow, brush, or tap the remaining lint from the case and you are good to go.

Can you forgive me?