Practice, practice and more practice. Trying out the loop-de-lou between leaves.
Miri asked me why I used polyester thread? An excellent question, I think polyester thread is stronger, the colours won't fade after repeated washings. So I always use polyester thread in a baby quilt. Since I have a new sewing machine, there is no reason not to practice with cotton thread as well. ~insert happy grin here~
This is the backside using Sulky 100% 30wt cotton thread. The stitches look great, but I had some trouble with the needle thread breaking. I reduced the needle tension from 5.2 to 3.8. Still needle thread broke. Then I replaced the needle from a Schmetz Universal 80/12 to a 90/14. I think "knock wood" that the problem was solved.
This quilt sandwich was about 18 by 12, I had already quilted about half of it using this gorgeous olive green 100% polyester embroidery thread. The polyester thread didn't break at all with the needle tension set at 5.2.
I love the way the cotton thread looks. The stitches appear more defined.
This design is really fun to do.. quite addictive actually. I find myself doodling leaves every time I have a scrap of paper handy.
Charleigh is Barb's (my dear friend) grand-daughter. Barb is making a fabric book from squares that were made by the guests at Charleigh's baby showers. I embroidered the birth announcement as well as a few other pages.
The sewing machine is a Pfaff Creative 2, spring motion open-toe foot and Schmetz universal 90/14 needle. This was the first time I used cotton thread with this sewing machine.
New quilt sandwich, the green thread is 100% polyester, the multi-coloured gold/yellow thread is Guiterman 100% cotton 40 wt and the white thread is 100% cotton Sulky 30wt.
The Pfaff Creative 2 does not like cotton thread, the needle thread keeps breaking and it was skipping stitches.
I changed needles three times, I tried a Schmetz universal 80/12, 90/14 and top stitch 90/14 it didn't seem to make any differnce at all. I tried reducing the needle tension from 5.2 to 3.8 still the needle thread was breaking.
Grrrrrrrrrr... I took the bobbin casing out vacuumed the feed dogs and the botton of the machine under the needle bed. Put everything back together again lint and dust free. Still the needle thread was breaking. Time to switch sewing machines.
I took my Sulky 100% cotton 30 wt thread and the bobbin out of the Pfaff Creative 2. The Husqvarna Lily uses the same bobbins. I threaded the Lily, put on the spring motion darning foot and dropped the feed dogs. I don't even know what size needle was in the machine.
The Husqvarna loved the Sulky thread. Didn't skip a single stitch and the needle thread didn't break even once!
I should invest in an open-toe darning foot for it as I can't see as well with this machine.
Also the sewing bed is really small compared to the Pfaff Creative 2. It is difficult to quilt a large quilt with this machine.
This is the backside of the practice piece with the Husqvarna.
Has anyone else had trouble with the needle thread breaking and skipping stitches when using Sulky 100% cotton thread? If yes, would you please tell me what you did to fix it? I sure would welcome comments from quilters who use Sulky 100% cotton thread. I used the same thread in the bobbin, was that a mistake?
5 comments:
Hey, Tammy. I haven't had trouble with thread breaking. But, I did have skipped stitches, especially when my pattern caused me to pull the fabric sandwich toward me. Magic Genie Bobbin Washers seemed to solve that. There's less slack and wobble between the bobbin and the bobbin case. I've always used cotton thread, 50wt to quilt with and am just starting to use 60wt poly, always with a cotton bobbin. If you need to pull out, cotton pulls better than poly. Lane
I have this problem every time I use Sulky. I have tried every possible combination of needles and bobbin thread, tension changes, nothing fixes the problem for me, and I have written many blog posts complaining about it in the past. It might just be my machine (I have a Brother) but the best thread for me for machine quilting is Aufifil.
I am working on my daughter's graduation quilt using Sulky 30w variegated thread on 100% cotton quilting fabric with 80/20 batting. I tried my Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0 without success (skipped stitches, thread popped out of the needle every two inches, etc.), so I switched to my Brother Innovis 4000D using the same 90/14 sharp with the same Sulky 30w and Presencia 60w in the bobbin and with a tension of 4.0, it worked beautifully! Tension is key, I believe. Tomorrow I'm going to keep trying with the Quilt Exp. 4.0. Mary Ann @ rocknquilts.blogspot.com
I have a Bernina, and the broken threads and missed stitches with Sulky 30 wt thread keep on happening! I'm glad I'm not the only one! Tried everything - I'm not going to use it any more!
I exchanged the Sulky 100% cotton wt thread for Superior brand cotton thread. What I found the most annoying was my Husqvarna 530 Lily machine free motion quilted beautifully with the Sulky cotton thread. But the Pfaff Creative 2 did not like it one bit. Thanks so much for the comments, I'm so glad I wasn't the only one having trouble with this thread. I just free motion quilted a linked feather border around a baby quilt using 100% Gutermann variegated thread made in Greece. The Pfaff Creative 2 loved it. Not a single skipped stitch or broken thread, I emptied four bobbins doing the border.
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