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I've delayed 2 well received series on this blog, Batting Battles &
Part 3 of Newbie's Guide to FMQ . The reason? Well, my free motion quilting was TERRIBLE! My machine was skipping stitches and I couldn't go through 12" worth of stitching without my thread shredding to pieces. I tried everything- better thread, new needles, new brands of needles, oiling my machine, cleaning my machine, slowing down, lowering tension, raising tension. NO FIX! I was about to carry it in to my trusty repair guy when I decided to google more throroughly.
Both problems were linked to a dirty machine. That machine (Juki TL98Q) up there? PLEASE. I clean that machine more often than I clean my bedroom. NO WAY.
Then I decided to see if I could take off the exterior for a look inside...to the parts my short little fingers don't reach. What's did I find?
A trap door. DANG...I never knew it! I took it off and found a wad of lint that looks like a gerbil hide.
NASTY.
Does your machine have a trap door under the bobbin case?
I've delayed 2 well received series on this blog, Batting Battles &
Part 3 of Newbie's Guide to FMQ . The reason? Well, my free motion quilting was TERRIBLE! My machine was skipping stitches and I couldn't go through 12" worth of stitching without my thread shredding to pieces. I tried everything- better thread, new needles, new brands of needles, oiling my machine, cleaning my machine, slowing down, lowering tension, raising tension. NO FIX! I was about to carry it in to my trusty repair guy when I decided to google more throroughly.
I'm back to working on samples for a Batting Battle of Hobbs 80/20 vs Warm. Getting my busy husband (full time employee, little league prez, cubmaster, choir member, dad of 3) to help me with pics for the FMQ ergonomics post is another story!
Does your machine have a trap door under the bobbin case?
Hurray for easy fixes!
ReplyDelete* immediately leaves computer and goes and checks for trapdoor on her machine*
ReplyDeleteI am going to look right now. Hard to believe that was all in there. Where does lint come from anyway?------one of life's big mysteries.
ReplyDeleteDang! I was hoping I had a trap door too, but sadly I don't :(
ReplyDeleteI'll just keep searching for the reason why I have so much trouble FMQ!
Looking forward to reading your tutorial on this anyway!
mmm thanks for the tip!, i've been having the same troubles and tried all the previous strategies too, save to have it "fixed".
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a trap door. Instead, I have to take the entire bottom off of my 1963 Singer Touch N' Sew Deluxe Zig Zag Model 600 sewing machine every time I clean it. I also have to say a prayer that parts don't spring out at me because I'd have no clue where some of those pieces belong!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI took my trap door off my Juki and put it in the bag of accessories. I let lint fall out on the table or machine carriage on my quilting frame. It can't do any harm there! I'm so glad you got it figured out! (I deleted the previous post so I could correct my wording).
ReplyDeleteDid you take off the throat plate and clean out the feed dogs? That's a place lint likes to hide too!
ReplyDeleteSweet!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd...... you can actually take off the whole bottom panel (i did - with the help of my DH) and we took a small vacuum and just brushed and vacuumed out the whole bottom.... amazing how many dust bunnies were underneath.
i was afraid once i'd taken the bottom lid off, i'd never get it back together.... but its really just a matter of the 4 or so screws...
piece of cake..
xo
eva