Sensitivity and Free Motion Quilting

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

10 Responses

  1. Lee Ann says:

    Thank you Leah for touching on this topic this week. I have been having this very issue of needing to brush out the lint in the bobbin area.

  2. kupton52 says:

    …. and intuitive mindset in sewing….

  3. Sue says:

    Excellent post today Leah!

    Weather and our heating systems also affects our quilting and we have adjust our tension accordingly. For instance, on warm, humid days, I have to adjust my upper tension by making it a bit looser as the thread seems to absorb moister and become "fatter". When the heat is on and the air is warm and dry, I might have to lower it a bit. So each day I do a few sample stitches on a practice 'sandwich' before beginning the real deal just to see where my tension needs to be that day.

  4. Janet O. says:

    Always such good counsel from you.

  5. Michelle says:

    Thanks for this post! I'm fairly sure my bobbin area needs cleaning. It's been awhile.

  6. patsroamin says:

    And sometimes it is just gremlins. Just a few days ago I was quilting nicely and stopped for the night. The next morning I took up where I had left off, and quilted several inches of loopy fringe on the back. The only thing I had touched was the power button. And, yes, it was the bobbin causing the trouble.

  7. quiltfool says:

    Thanks, Leah. I think I needed to hear that today. While quilting this morning, I heard just the faintest hint of an unusual sound. I should have checked it out and didn't. But, I will be tonight. Lane

  8. matate10 says:

    I quilt everyday for other people. So I change the bobbin many, many times a day. I brush it out every time I change it. It's open, your there, you might as well. You're quilting through cotton fabric, cotton batting with cotton thread, (most of the time), that's a lot of cotton to leave a lot of lint. I find there is always something there. And don't forget a drop of oil every few bobbins if your machine calls for it. Check your owners manual. Mine does every few hour of sewing.

  9. Leah, this is so true. I clean out the bobbin area and under the stitch plate frequently, 2-3 times a day at least. Plus I put one drop of oil every 3 bobbins. I have a Bernina 440 QE and this makes a world of difference. Plus I change needles if there's any weird squishing sound when the needle goes in, and change it anyway every week or so, and also when I change thread sizes.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *