tension and walking foot

Ok, at the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, how do you KNOW the top
tension is too high? I just stick the foot on and go! (but then again I
have a 20yr old Singer portable...)
L

"Martha" wrote in message
...
Hello!

I have proper tension balance when I am piecing with a normal presser
foot, but with the same tension setting while quilting with a walking
foot, the top tension is too high.

Is this usual?

TIA!

Martha

It's too high when loops of bobbin thread appear on top. OTOH, I once had a
serendipitous moment while free-motioning with invisible thread on top:
teensy bits of bobbin thread appeared (and didn't clash with the top colors)
and from a slight distance looked very like delicate hand quilting. It just
happened to work with that particular quilt. Not sure I'd like it that way
on every quilt!

And yes, I usually reduce top tension for quilting on my Pfaff.
Roberta in D
"lisa skeen" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
k.net...
Ok, at the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, how do you KNOW the top
tension is too high? I just stick the foot on and go! (but then again I
have a 20yr old Singer portable...)
L

"Martha" wrote in message
...
Hello!

I have proper tension balance when I am piecing with a normal presser
foot, but with the same tension setting while quilting with a walking
foot, the top tension is too high.

Is this usual?

TIA!

Martha

Roberta Zollner wrote:
It's too high when loops of bobbin thread appear on top. OTOH, I once had a
serendipitous moment while free-motioning with invisible thread on top:
teensy bits of bobbin thread appeared (and didn't clash with the top colors)
and from a slight distance looked very like delicate hand quilting. It just
happened to work with that particular quilt. Not sure I'd like it that way
on every quilt!
that's the basic principle behind the "hand quilting" stitch that some
sewing machines advertise. Someone probably discovered it accidentally,
just like you did, and the company decided to promote it as a new
"feecher".

Julia in MN

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The so-called hand quilting stitch on my Pfaff is pretty awful-looking -it
does 2 or 3 normal stitches, then 1 back and forth stitch that looks heavier
because it has 3 layers of thread. And that's supposed to make the rest of
the stitches disappear to look like hand quilting? I don't think so!
Although if one used invisible on top, the extra bits might tend to pull the
bobbin thread up and really create this effect.
Roberta in D

"Julia in MN" schrieb im
Newsbeitrag ...
Roberta Zollner wrote:
It's too high when loops of bobbin thread appear on top. OTOH, I once had
a serendipitous moment while free-motioning with invisible thread on top:
teensy bits of bobbin thread appeared (and didn't clash with the top
colors) and from a slight distance looked very like delicate hand
quilting. It just happened to work with that particular quilt. Not sure
I'd like it that way on every quilt!
that's the basic principle behind the "hand quilting" stitch that some
sewing machines advertise. Someone probably discovered it accidentally,
just like you did, and the company decided to promote it as a new
"feecher".

Julia in MN

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This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus

http://webpages.charter.net/jaccola/

Aha! I didn't know this was "bad", and used it to soften the look of dark
thread bu using a lighter bobbin thread on a piece I did recently.

L


"Roberta Zollner" wrote in message
...

It's too high when loops of bobbin thread appear on top.

At least on my machine (the Elna quilter's dream 2), you're "supposed
to" use invisible thread in the top to create the mock handstitch. I
haven't been able to get it to work to my satisfaction yet, but I think
I'll try after the holidays with some YLI brand and see if that works
any better. I hate when I can't figure things out on my machine, but I
don't hate it enough to motivate myself to take the instructional class
that came with the machine purchase...

Lynn

Roberta Zollner wrote:
The so-called hand quilting stitch on my Pfaff is pretty awful-looking -it
does 2 or 3 normal stitches, then 1 back and forth stitch that looks heavier
because it has 3 layers of thread. And that's supposed to make the rest of
the stitches disappear to look like hand quilting? I don't think so!
Although if one used invisible on top, the extra bits might tend to pull the
bobbin thread up and really create this effect.
Roberta in D

"Julia in MN" schrieb im
Newsbeitrag ...
Roberta Zollner wrote:
It's too high when loops of bobbin thread appear on top. OTOH, I once had
a serendipitous moment while free-motioning with invisible thread on top:
teensy bits of bobbin thread appeared (and didn't clash with the top
colors) and from a slight distance looked very like delicate hand
quilting. It just happened to work with that particular quilt. Not sure
I'd like it that way on every quilt!
that's the basic principle behind the "hand quilting" stitch that some
sewing machines advertise. Someone probably discovered it accidentally,
just like you did, and the company decided to promote it as a new
"feecher".

Julia in MN

--
This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus

http://webpages.charter.net/jaccola/

Yeah, it does look more like HQ when you use the invisible
thread, but is way too much time for the result. I like the MQ
with regular stitch or with FM.
When I did one in the Pfaff owners class, I showed DH and he
turned it over and said he way prefers the how the stitches look
on the back of it. Ha, that looks like a nice regular stitch! I
LOL at that.

Roberta Zollner wrote:

The so-called hand quilting stitch on my Pfaff is pretty awful-looking -it
does 2 or 3 normal stitches, then 1 back and forth stitch that looks heavier
because it has 3 layers of thread. And that's supposed to make the rest of
the stitches disappear to look like hand quilting? I don't think so!
Although if one used invisible on top, the extra bits might tend to pull the
bobbin thread up and really create this effect.
Roberta in D