Have you ever spent a bunch of time sewing on a project, and then realized that the threads on the back of the project are all sticking out or tangled up?

Although I try to check my stitching every time I start a new project, I’ll admit that sometimes I forget to check. Then it’s a very unpleasant surprise when I turn over my work only to discover that – although the top looks great – the back looks like a tangled mess.

That’s when I stop sewing in frustration, get up and stomp around the house for a few minutes and promise myself that “next time – - – ” and start ripping.

Early in my sewing career, I didn’t even know that I could change the tension on my sewing machine.

Oh, there is that page in the instruction manual – but, well, the only time I opened the book was to find out where I should put the drops of oil.

When someone finally told me that I could adjust the tension of the thread on my machine, I was forced to look in the book because I couldn’t figure out what to adjust.

Amazingly, in the instruction book there was a picture of what the thread should look like on the top and bottom of my sewing – and how it should fit together between the layers.

Plus, it showed what to adjust and how to adjust it.

Sort of.

It showed the little knob on the top of the machine, and a little plus and minus, but I wasn’t sure whether I should be moving the knob to the plus or the minus to get the result I wanted.

Then we invited expert machine quilter, Pam Bauer, to join us for our Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation, and she cleared it up for us.

She said:

“If your bobbin thread is showing on the top of your quilt, you need to loosen your tension which means a lower number.

“And if your top thread is showing through on the backside of your quilt that means that you need to tighten the tension.  That’s going to bring the threads up and that means a higher
number.”

Pam also talked about the type of thread to use for machine quilting on your home sewing machine.

Prior to her interview, I was sure I had to use the same thread for both the top and bobbin.

Boy, was I wrong.

She uses different thread all the time, and all she does is create a small quilt “sandwich,” try some test machine quilting and then make adjustments based on how the quilting
looks.

With the confidence of her instructions in hand, I have been able to experiment with different weights of thread on my machine and use different threads on the top and bobbin with great results.

To get more details from Pam and hear part of the interview, visit:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/2301-machine-tension.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren