Quilting Machines - Industrial and Commercial withTable

QuiltTalk In-Depth Tension & Needle Flex.
We've all been there...tension headaches when quilting are a literal pain!

If you are new or even seasoned to longarming, here are some tips to help you smooth out the tension path to achieve beautiful stitches. When your stitches are beautiful, creating quilting designs is so much more enjoyable! Start with a well maintained machine from top to bobbin. Be very familiar with the process your machine manufacturer recommends to keep the hook area oiled and clean and follow the maintenance schedule recommended. Keep the hook area free of lint by brushing out the lint after every bobbin change or blow out with air if recommended by the manufacturer. Use the size needle recommended with the size of thread and brand of needles recommended by your machine company. Change needles frequently - educators recommend a new needle with every quilt if queen sized, more often with batik quilts.

Use a finer thread in the bobbin, such at DecoBob™. The finer thread will work better with the top thread, and nestle up into the layers easier than the same weight thread as the top thread. Understand how a stitch is made and how needle flex affects the stitch formation. Here’s a good video to understand needle flex on a longarm machine.

Place a folded piece of batting in the first thread guide above your cone of thread, lay the thread in the fold and thread your machine. The batting will prevent the thread from bouncing through the thread guide and may reduce breakage. Don’t have your quilt sandwich too tight. It is good to see a small drape over the throat of the machine as it glides under the quilt. Tension all of a sudden goes haywire? Check your thread path, thread can often jump out of a pigtail and wind itself around a three hole thread guide.

Don’t be fooled when you see a “nub” of your bobbin thread up through the needles hole. This is exactly where we want to see it and when the quilt comes off the frame the stitch will relax into the batting layer, resulting in a beautiful stitch on the top and bottom. Changing the needle, checking for correct needle placement, cleaning the hook assembly and bobbin case are the first steps to solving tension issues, along with checking for correct thread path. Develop a system you follow every time you need to diagnose tension issues and troubleshooting.