rosiewell

I am new at FM machine quilting having quilted by hand for the last 25 years. I am quilting a border and I am using blue thread for the top and white for the bobbin so that my horrible quilting doesn't jump up. Problem is that try as I may to fix the tensions a tiny blue thread shows up on the reverse on every stitch, is this normal? Please advise before I take it apart one more time. Thanks for the help!

patski

I think that is the bobbin tension. I have a tiny screw on my bobbin holder and can adjust it just a hair and it fixes that problem.

gail-r

Sounds like your top tension needs to be just a smidge tighter, some machines won't let you adjust in tiny amounts. Or you can try changing thread colors so they are the same top and bottom, sometimes a light gray will work good on blue and white fabric. Good luck, but remember that FMQ is very addictive and it doesn't have to be perfect. I suggest that you make some small quilt sandwiches to practice on and start out by writting your name, over and over, A lot of FMQ is muscle memory. When I want to learn a new design I draw it on paper several times and then practice on sample quilt sandwiches. My favorite part of quilting is the free motion quilting. Hugs

JulieR

Yes, it's a tension issue. But if it's very slight and only a little noticeable, once you wash (and dry) it you'll never be able to tell.

hopetoquilt

That has been my experience too.

mighty

I agree, have had the same problem.

Prism99

My Bernina 1230 is a wonderful machine, but I'm sure I would get this result if I used the same colors in top and bobbin that you have used. It doesn't matter how much I fine-tune the tension. Some machines seem able to achieve a perfect balance and don't have this problem, but my machine is definitely not one of them.

I'm glad about the other comments, as it never occurred to me that those little dots would disappear when the quilt was washed! That's good to know!

masufa

I think that is why is it best to use the same color in top and bottom then it doesn't show.

rosiewell

Thanks for the comments, I guess I will relax a bit and just enjoy it. I will post the finished quilt, thanks

Jingle

This has happened to me also. I try to adjust top thread as good as I can and just go on, or I ude the same color as the top.