Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Breaking Bad…

As I said yesterday, operating a mid arm is a real learning experience.  I have been getting all kinds of advice from other mid/long arm quilters and I REALLY appreciate it!  Nothing like hearing it from the experts!!

Janna from Tin Tee Pee/Log Cabin Blog suggested ‘Sew Fine Thread’ when I had a thread breaking issue.  And Judi from Green Fairy Blog wrote a whole post on Quilting Threads …and Sew Fine was one of her favourites!!  Well low and behold as soon as I used Sew Fine #50 Thread by Superior…no more breaking thread!  It was like magic!!

On the last quilt I quilted, I REALLY wanted to use a pretty variegated blue Sulky thread so I put it on the machine and didn’t get 5” before my first break!  I re-threaded the whole machine, put the bobbin in again and changed the needle…started up again and within 2”, another break!  Dang!  Back to Sew Fine for me…yup…you guessed it, the machine purred like a kitten!  She knows what she likes…sew why mess with her!

I am now officially a SEW FINE girl!  I phoned the Superior Dealer in Qualicum to place an order…Cindy was getting ready to do a thread demo in Nanaimo…so did I want to meet her at the Safeway Parking lot in Nanaimo(an hour’s drive from my house)?  Sure…

So there I was, sitting in my car… waiting to meet ‘My Dealer’ for my fix!  Like a scene from “Breaking Bad”…P1200654

Only in my case, Cindy looked nothing like Walt or Jesse…and…I’m hoping this solves my ‘Breaking Bad’ episodes!! 

Yup…I have been watching too much TV…WAY too much TV!

Have a terrific Tuesday and Happy Quilting!~P

16 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you solved your provlem with the thread. People in the quilting community are just great when you need help on a project. It's one big happy family and I'm glad to be part of it. HAPPY QUILTING

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  2. oh that would have made an interesting stop for a cop..."honestly officer it's just thread!!!:

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  3. I have heard that with pfaffs, so wonder if the new one is just as bad. I use threads I get on sale and they do break, but for sewing I can live with it, would hate having that on a long arm.

    Debbie

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  4. Well I'm glad you got that problem solved! Nothing more frustrating than problems with things such as cars and sewing machines. lol. Have fun with your quilting.

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  5. Superior also makes a varigated thread. You should give that a try. My machine likes So Fine and it will also run the varigated with no problems.

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  6. Sooo funny! Glad you got your "fix"!

    Cheery wave!

    Bev

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  7. The most frustrating thing is the breaking of thread, particulary when learning something new! Glad you had lots of advise here in blog land. It truly is a world where we come together for the common good of quilting.
    Oh and will I ever be happy that the election commercials will end today! Life goes on.

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  8. Yep...I find Superior threads are the best. So Fine is my favorite. Breaking threads usually means the tension is too tight. Shredding means there is a rough spot on the thread path somewhere...could even be in the eye of your needle.
    You are doing great with your quilting!

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  9. Superior Threads makes a variegated thread, too, Paulette which when I use variegated--this is it. And yes, there is a little more breakage with variegated Superior than with So Fine but not much if you get the tension adjusted right. It is called Rainbow.

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  10. I have a Hq16. It loves Superior thread-so fine, bottom line (for the bobbin) is fantastic and they have on their website a chart that tells you which bottom line matches which So Fine-which is nice. I love their Rainbows too and King Tut although it's a heavier thread and I don't use it often any more.
    The Superior website has tons of free info and I get their monthly email newsletter-always something informative in it.
    Have fun learning to Longarm-it't my favorite part of quilting.

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  11. Hi!
    My long arm quilter uses Superior thread too, variegated always, beautiful quilting happens on her machine!
    Take care, Leslie

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  12. I know nothing about mid-arms or long-arms (or quilting - remember I only make tops LOL) but I will comment on too much tv. There is never enough tv when you are home alone all day and have only the sleeping dogs to listen to! I have the tv on for background noise. That's my story and I'm sticking to it .....

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  13. My midarm also likes this thread. A cheaper alternative for charity quilts and so forth is also by Superior Threads called Omni and that one works well too. Also don't hesitate to spring for titanium needles I found they last much longer than the regular HLx5's, which would apply even if your machine takes commercial round needles.

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  14. When I first started with my longarm, I loved the look of the Sulky thread. But all of a sudden I ran into the same problem of multiple breaks. Turns out it was a bad spool of thread - when I changed the spool the problem went away. So don't necessarily give up on the Sulky too soon.

    Having said that, I like the Sew Fine too. I'm also fond of Connecting Thread's Essential Pro thread - fine and strong.

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  15. Hi Paulette, I have a gammill premier longarm machine. When I bought it I asked for thread samples from all the manufacturers I could think of. Most of them sent some samples for trying. I liked the Mettler Polysheen Multi for variegated thread best. For industrial use (bigger cones) it is the same as Isacord multicolour. I bought the smaller cones because I then could buy more colors and there are 40+ of variegated colors. Have fun playing with your midarm! Greetings from Germany, Inka
    inka(dot)mangels(at)elaborate-consult(dot)de

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  16. How fun to own a long arm. I think about it often, but can't seem to justify the expense. If you are ever in need of inspiration check The Green Fairy Quilt blog. This quilter does amazing quilting. Good luck and happy long arming!

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