Greetings Quilter

Does your sewing machine eat certain types of thread? Or, maybe it doesn’t eat the thread, it just snaps and breaks it.

Either way it is frustrating and annoying.

If you are anything like I am, you are always on the lookout for a solution to problems like these that make your machine quilting (and even your regular sewing) more difficult.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when Paula Rostkowski, professional longarm machine quilter, mentioned that our machines actually have preferences for certain threads.

I’ve heard of all the problems and possible solutions – adjusting the machine tension for the top thread; adjusting the tension for the bobbin; making sure that the spool is feeding easily and properly; making sure that the bobbin isn’t wound too loose or too tight or too full; matching the top and bobbin threads.

But to learn that, while all of those things might be interesting, they really may not solve the problem was actually, quite a relief.

Paula told us how her sewing machine just didn’t like a particular type of thread. I can assure you that this is a high quality thread, and the manufacturer loves machine quilters, so it isn’t really the thread that has the problem.

Paula said that no matter what she tried, her machine choked and sputtered, and the only conclusion she could come to was that the machine didn’t like that particular type of thread. But it likes other brands – no problem.

The bottom line for us amateur quilters is to try the thread we want to use on a quilt sandwich, and make any necessary adjustments. But, if it still doesn’t work, try a different type of thread.

Paula also said that the problem isn’t necessarily specific to a brand of sewing machine. In one machine the thread might work fine and in another machine – same brand, same model – it would cause a problem. Sorry, can’t call your quilting friend who owns the same type of machine and be sure that the thread she uses will be perfect in your machine!

Listen to Paula’s comments and read more about thread for machine quilting:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/6008-machine-quilting-thread.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny