Quilt in a Day Forums

I have had my Sapphire 870 for about a month and am trying to free motion quilt a small stenciled wholecloth quilt. I am using the straight stitch throatplate, size 50/3ply Superior So Fine thread, a microsharp 80 needle, cotton sateen fabric front and backing, and cotton batting. I am not happy with the stitch tension. I have tried everything from 3.0 to 5.0 and can not tell the difference. Can anyone with an 870 help?

Hello ) When you say you aren't happy with the tension, what do you mean? When I had my Viking, I rolled my tension back to 0-2 for FMQ. When you FMQ, you want LESS tension. A good way to get it prefect-o is to put white on top and black in the bottom, quilt a little, look at the the top and bottom and adjust to the point that you cannot see black on top or white on the bottom. Then when you quilt your project(the real deal), use similar thread tones in the top and bottom. HTHs, Amie )

Thanks. I will try the two colors of thread. For some reason I thought FMQ required a higher tension. I need to reread my books. I am determined to learn to do this, because I love the results.

you need to go to settings and chose free motion and it will auto set the correct tension for you. i have had my 870 for little over a yr now and i have never had a problem with the tension.
it is the only machine i use to quilt with now. the others are just for sewing

Barbara

Dear Grannyquilts, I am choosing free-motion quilting, but did not know it set the tension automaticly. Thanks for the info. Glad to hear that you are likely your 870. The first few things I quilted were with invisible thread and I was told to play with the tension until I got it right, so I assumed I had to figure out the tension. What weight thread do you use with the automatic tension? Thanks.

I have the Viking 830 and was having tension issues when using the Free Motion. Are you using the foot that came with it? Be sure your settings are correct in the menu with the tools button. I did not need to adjust the tension dial. When I first got my machine a few weeks ago, I was trying to use my existing viking feet with no luck. I went to the dealer yesterday and she had me try a new foot. It worked great! I filled a whole FQ size sampler without a single issue. I don't know what it is about the foot that made it work better, but it did. She gave it to me free of charge (I would have bought it though). One thing I have to pay more attention to is that when you stop with the needle down and the foot comes up, it isn't coming up all the way, so the tension will still be tight. Be sure to press the button to raise the foot all the way. It makes a big difference.

When I FMQ with invisible thread on my 870, I have to put the tension way up to 5.8 to get it looking right. I do have to play with the tension when I do regular thread FMQ. This last weekend I played with the automatic buttonholer thingy for the first time and WOW, it makes buttonholes exactly the same every time and automatically. So much easier than the old way. I also discovered the seam overcast stitches at the bottom of the front panel. Just keep those instruction books handy and you will discover new things each time you read them. I love my 870!!