Today I awoke with a feeling of well being. The best I've felt in over 2 weeks. I had my usual coffee, & breakfast, then took my meds for the pneumonia. My face has a funny red butterfly mark spreading across my nose & cheeks, but I am breathing better, so I'll live with the weird side effects.
I headed into the studio with much optimism. Started up Lily, & was wiping her down like I always do, before quilting. Removing any excess oil that may have dripped from yesterday's oiling when I put her to bed. I took the rag, & wiped around the bobbin area, the started her running to catch any drips that fly out. Unfortunately I was a little too close with the rag, & caught it in the bobbin, blowing the fuse & jamming up the rag in the hook mechanism. It wasn't pretty.
Fortunately I had an extra fuse, so I switched that, & got her turned back on. Then I managed to dislodge the rag & remove the jammed needle. Then I had to work on re-timing my machine. I called Megan & got a little advice before I went too deep, & after about 2 hours of re-reading the instruction book, & watching the same section of the DVD over & over, & taking things apart & putting them back together, I finally have a decent stitch again.
Now here's my question. I've been using this machine for almost a year & 1/2 now, & one thing I noticed, is bearding. It happens a lot. Way more than I ever had on my short arm Bernina. I have discovered that certain batting beards worse than others. I also noticed that the backing fabrics seem to make a difference. The last quilt I quilted had a Cotton Sateen on the back, & it bearded even with the Hobbs Thermore for the batting, which is one of the better ones I've used. Now what else can I do. I am using Titanium needles (recommended by A-1).
On my present quilt, I am using Hobbs Wool batting, & it isn't bearding at all, but the stray strings from the edges of the patches on the front at pushing through the back, as illustrated in the photos below.
That's not thread, it from the patchwork. I can pull most of them out, but they are everywhere, & it will take forever! Is there a good solution for this & the general problem of bearding?
4 comments:
My sympathies on the thread tails........I haven't been quilting that long; and mine is not a longarm but I have been a seamstress for 35 yrs+ my gut reaction is that the needle is not right. I would explore other options in that area. Hope you find the answer-let us know! (Glad you are feeling better!)
Glad you're feeling better. It's a good thing since you had this machine malfunction to deal with! I'm not a long arm quilter, but from what I've read about the bearding, it seems to be related to batting as you say. I'd google that and see what you find unless you think you've got a handle on it. As for the thread tales, I'll be watching for comments because I had the same problem on something I just quilted, only they came more to the front of the quilt. (I used my DSM.)
I've never used wool.
I did read yesterday either on the APQS forum or MQResouces forum that wool does and will beard.
Patchwork thread ... are these threads that were not cut short before by the quilt maker?
I have a Nolting PRO and don't use the Titanium needles so can't comment on that except to ask if you've tried other needles?
Hope someone can help you.
I'm so happy your lungs are feeling better! Love to you!
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