AshleyR

What is going on with this? I changed needles, rethreaded the machine, cleaned out the bobbin area. I haven't touched the tension. The top looks great. This is the bottom. I have to finish this quilt today!

JulieR

Can you sew a straight stitch, not fmq, without an issue?

Have you tried a new bobbin?

Does this happen with all thread?

sharon b

When you cleaned out the bobbin area- did you take the plate off the feed dogs ? Since it is the bottom that is bad it is a problem with the top tension - but still clean out everything really well. Try rethreading it again , a new full bobbin, another new needle

CoyoteQuilts

I bet you forgot to put down the foot. Often when FMQing when we start up again after cleaning/rethreading we forget the pressure foot. From your picture there isn't any tension on the top thread.

wolph33

yes that is what it looks like-no top tension

Scissor Queen

That's what it looks like to me too. Put the foot down.

Tartan

If you put the foot down and it is still happening, check that the thread went through the tension discs properly. Have you been quilting on this sandwich fine and it suddenly started doing this? If it is doing this from the start, some fabrics with a different weave will cause problems. Good Luck.

RDM

Also check what type of needle you are using, is it a quilting needle. Are you pulling up your bobbin thread when you begin?

AshleyR

Thanks everyone! It seems to be working ok again. I tested the bobbin tension and tightened it a little and tightened the machine tension too. I guess that's what the problem was. I don't know why it decided it was going to start doing that. I used to work in a Tech Center and the first thought is always "What changed?" The only thing that I can remember that "changed" was a new bobbin. It was tooting along just fine. I didn't even know it was doing anything until I finished for the night and was checking out my work. Wow. It took 3 hours to rip that out last night. I thought I'd change everything out and start fresh and WHAMMO! Same problem. That's when I came to The Internets!

Thanks for everyone's help! I might get this one wrapped in time to gift it!

0tis

Check your top thread - it looks like its not in the tension discs - when mine gets like that I always re-thread and check my tension discs - sometimes the discs get linted up and the contact is not good. Try it again