I really can't figure out what is wrong here. You have done all the right things, you have tried all sorts of needles and you have used thread which I know from experience can be used for FMQ and you sew slow. I tend to think that there is something wrong with your machine. Which machine are you using? You might have said that in another thread but I can't remember if.
I have both a front loading machine and a top loading machine and they both work with what you mention. Only thing I change is the top tension to low and sometimes very low depending on the thread.
Hope you figure it out. It is fun when you have all these problems solved.

JoJo - Continue to enjoy your hand quilting (something I want to start doing along with everything else in the world...), but please don't give up on the machine. It's nice to have as many tools in your belt as you can get! One thing you might look at also is how full your bobbin is. The bobbin tension will change slightly as you use up the thread, so maybe work with a full, but not too full, bobbin while working out the kinks. And double-check that your bobbin is being wound with even tension on the thread. If that is uneven, I could imagine that might make the bobbin spin wierdly periodically.

I can't think of any time that I've ever had the thread jump out of the upper tension disks. I'll have to think about what that might mean. Hmmm

If the problems persist, I would take the machine into the dealer and try it there to see what they have to say. If you can show them what's happening, they might have ideas of what to do differently or what might need some adjustment on the machine.

Nancy

It might sound silly but is your thread put into the bobbin case correctly, I have had the thread undo itself from the correct route and cause a mess underneath.
Hope you get it sorten soon
Anne

FUNNY Rosemary because after that not so enjoyable machine quilting experience, I have enjoyed an hour of sitting at my floor frame and hand quilting. I've never been stressed out while hand quilting. Maybe I should throw in the towel and just continuing to hand quilt everything.

Sounds like you need a long cool drink of something interesting with a high percentage of non-water liquid after a weekend like that - and perhaps some hand quilting to calm you down

Hi Rosemary,

Thanks for your response. Yes, the presser foot was down.

Your second comment reminded me of something that happened a few times that I forgot about. Occassionally, even though I am a slow quilter, the top thread would literally jump out of the very top threading area. I've never had that happen before and was shocked the first time it happened. I thought I must have threaded it wrong and redid it making sure the presser foot was up and the thread was getting into the disks properly. It happened a few other times as well. I told you I had a heck of a weekend trying to free motion!

Wendy, yes I did think to check the throat plate and can't feel anything abnormal on it. I'm not sure if I understand your instructions to move the fabric back and forth. Do you mean that you don't start off where you wanted to?

Nancy, I started off with the tension normal but did lower it after a while. I can't really say that it seemed to help much. I even used the bobbin that supposedly is made for free motioning. sigh.... I think you are right about the bobbin suddenly spinning out of control though. I can hear it and am not sure how to combat that. I am a slow quilter so going fast isn't a problem yet. I'll look into the genies. I really would like to play again but after the weekend, it is painful to even think of it.

This comment is probably redundant, but when you say that you are getting a tangle of threads at the beginning, even though you are holding both threads back, it makes me wonder if a) you have your presser foot down (stupid I know - but when I first started fmembroidery we just took the foot off and if we forgot to put the lever down this was the same result) so leading on from a - b) have you double checked your thread through the top tension plates (again possibly stupid, since you have been trying different threads and have been re-threading the machine each time)

Other than these 2 duff ideas I regret to say that I am entirely unable to help, but good luck anyway.

Hi JoJo -

I'm FAR from an expert, but have you tried playing with the top tension? For shredding, I would wonder if your top tension is too tight. Superior recommends loosening your top tension considerable when FMQ with all of their threads and I've found in my own experience that I generally have to loosen the top for other threads, too, when FMQ. When piecing, I move the top tension back to the regular value and that works well.

As for the nests, I don't generally get them at the beginning of my quilting if I've pulled the bobbin thread taut so there is not extra play down there. But I have gotten them periodically in the middle of my quilting and that seems to be from the bobbin suddenly spinning out of control. I would suggest begin careful to start slow and build up your speed at a constant pace and maybe get some magic genie washers to put in your bobbin case. I use those on my machines and am not certain that they help for me, but several well-known quilters swear by them (Leah Day and Patsy Thompson, off the top of my head). According to Leah, then work in drop in bobbins, although I've not tried that since I have a front-loading bobbin myself.

Hope some of this helps,

Nancy

Just a thought it may be worth checking the throat plate to make sure it's smooth. I've snagged it with needle before, you can sand it down carefully

When you do the catching stitch at the start I've found moving the fabric back and forth a little rather than sewing on the spot prevents the problem.

I am stumped. Before I take the machine in for service, I thought I would ask those of you who are much more experienced than I about the problems I am having while free motion quilting.

* Machine has a drop in bobbin.

* Needles tried: top stitch needle, regular needle, as well as Microtex sharps in various sizes depending on the thread I was using.

* Threads used: Bobbin Line, So Fine, Maderia Polyneon, Aurifill 50 weight

* Top and bottom of quilt: regular quilting weight fabric

* Batting: Quilter's Dream poly

Problems encountered:

I always pull the thread up from the bottom and am holding the threads off to the left or straight back. Even though I have both threads on top, I often get a tangle of threads at the start underneath the quilt sandwich. Of course, then I have to remove the first inch or so of quilting and requilt that area hoping that it doesn't do it again.

Next, the thread continues to shred regardless of how slow or fast I stitch or whether I am quilting forward or backwards or to the left or right. I've blammed this on myself all weekend but after trying so many different needle combinations as well as threads, I'm beginning to wonder if the machine could be doing something strange. This never happens on regular sewing and the machine 'never' has any tension problems or anything during normal sewing. This is why I was thinking it was something I am doing wrong but just don't know it.

I finished the small practice piece I was working on but the hours it took to unstitch and restitch only to unstitch again has made me not want to machine quilt ever again unless I can figure this out. It's hard to get into a rhythm and actually get some good practice in with so machine thread problems.