QuiltBlog

 Steps and considerations in solving technical problems

(As seen in "Machine Quilting Unlimited")

   During the years I have provided technical support to sewing machine operators, there have been many topics that surface when solving problems. These can vary from thread quality to skipping stitches to proper machine lubrication. I spend many hours each week walking people through various troubleshooting areas to come to resolutions - sometimes over the phone and other times in person. I am excited to have the opportunity to reach many sewers and quilters with technical topics.  I plan to cover the nitty gritty details of specific problems for domestic and longarm machines. To begin, I will review a basic lesson, and possibly the most important. It takes patience to overcome any issue. In this article, I want to outline necessary steps to being ready for issues, things to do once a problem arises, and what can be done to maximize learning from the experience.

We often learn much from studying what not to do. In the last issue, we covered the aspects of a proper and good stitch. This is powerful when achieving a great looking stitch out of a machine.  This article will cover what can lead to a poor stitch quality. Most issues can be divided into one of three areas; Operator, Material Quality, Sewing Mechanism Fail Points. The following information is set up in the order of frequency. In other words the mostly common problems are listed first, and so on.

If handed a gizmo or gadget and asked for my opinion, my first question would be, “Well, what is it suppose to do?”. Knowing the way something is designed to work is the first step to understanding how to make it work well. This month I decided to give a brief overview of the elements that work together to create a good stitch. The beauty of the sewing machine is that the basics of getting a great stitch are the same for the smallest sewing machines, feature filled embroidery system and longarm quilting machine. This anatomy of a good stitch includes the bottom thread, top thread, stitch mechanism timing and the sewing foot.

Tension is probably the top concern for quilters, since we have to deal with it all the time.  There is no “prefect” setting for all cases.  However, there are guidelines to follow that will get you to a great result.  Here are the factors that effect your stitch quality: