I’ll be honest, I cured my toddler’s tantrums pretty quickly with bribery. Positive bribery…it was diabolical but it worked. 25 years ago, matchbox cars were about $1, or often less….and available nearly everywhere. My son and I would wheel ourselves directly to the matchbox and he would pick his favorite. And if he pitched a fit at any moment during our shopping trip, that car went onto the closest flat surface and he got no car.  

He still had a tantrum, but boy oh boy did he learn fast how to collect matchbox cars and behave in public.

Fixing your thread tantrums isn’t quite so simple, but I hope you will at least find this a good place to start.

Just a little proof…

Seriously, his favorite game was lining them up and having some “reason” for a traffic jam.  This time was construction, other times would be a crash, and all the first responders at the head of the line. I have a ranch house, and they stretched the entire 38 feet of hall and looped the kitchen…proof he learned VERY well to be a good boy. 

Common thread tantrums, what causes them, and how to (most likely) fix them

Let me preface this by saying long arms are far more likely to have all these issues, followed by older sit down machines, and new modern computerized sit down machines the least likely.  New sit down machines are far more likely to chirp at you and practically explain your problems. 

Sit down machines have most of their tensioning components hidden inside the housing, where a longarm has accessible ones. Regardless, your single best first step is always re-threading from scratch (not pull through) both top and bottom, and changing a needle.

Also, (and I sound like a parrot here)…unless you have hit something while quilting and it made big scary crunchy noises, it is INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY that you have thrown off your timing from a previously well behaved machine to create any of the following. (To disguinish from a machine that has been a brat from day one.)

(note: I will update this article as I find more examples of bad tension behavior)

Combo approach

Your bobbin is not tight enough and your top is too tight.  You can try loosening the top, but if it doesn’t immediately correct itself, your bobbin tension is too loose.  It may have lost tension because of lint under the bobbin finger or the bobbin is low on thread.  Also, you may have set the tension when the bobbin was over-full, and now that a few yards have spun off, it is settled into its “true tension”.  

In this image the thread is also generally flat and the nesting is poor. It’s possible the batting is just very low loft, but my best guess is the above cure is true, but the top tension is also way too tight, as well is the sandwich in the frame overall. 

Best practice with a “regular” bobbin case is to use a TOWA guide and set the bobbin tension to match the durability of the top thread, then change the top tension to nest threads.  I use 80 weight similar color bobbin regardless of what my top thread weight is.

This is not your tension.

Looking at the back here, the top thread has either jumped the tension disks completely or the check spring has broken.  Jumping the tension disk is far more likely.

Two problems at once

The bobbin is incredibly tight, if this is a change from previously good stitching, there is good chance the bobbin thread is snarled around the backlash spring. Often this will cause a thread break.  But sometimes, it causes a “burp” of thread that unseats the top thread out of the tension disks.  This image is showing the top thread completely out of the tension disks and a bottom thread very very tight.

Your hook is not picking up the thread, often on a curve.

This routinely happens when a hook/needle are timed correctly but still “loose”. If you almost always have good looking stitches, but periodically get this, very likely your quilt sandwich is too tight in the longarm frame. Also, it can happen on just one culprit fabric, like a batik, because it isn’t flexing.  Try misting the problem fabric.  The needle is flexing away from the hook on the curve and the combo of slightly “loose” timing is mixing with the over tight top/ fabric type to make the needle warp on the curve, causing a skip.  Loosen the rail tension, and try a stiffer needle.  Titanium are stiffer, or go up a size.

If this happens ALL the time, no matter what thread/needle combo you are using, and you have loosened as the above suggests, you may in fact need to time your hook so that it is brushing closer to the needle scarf, and higher in the scarf during rotation to pick up the thread. 

This is an encoder fail, or lint on the wheels/rails 

Either the encoder is slipping, or lint is causing the encoder to not “read” the wheel of a longarm as moving.  There will be no holes because the machine does not think it moved. Clean the wheels and rails and be sure your encoder is in full contact with wheels.

There is a very rare longarm issue that can look like this, but is actually worn out brushings causing the needle bar to wiggle. To diagnose this, long stitches will only appear on push away movements, and won’t have the tiny stitches shown in this image. Test this with straight pushes. Next, while holding the longarm head steady, can you physically wiggle the needle bar slightly? It’s very tough to tell, as you need to be sure you aren’t letting the head move. If your needle bar can wiggle AT ALL, your brushings need to be replaced. You can do this yourself on some machines, but you may need a tech. The brushings hold the needle bar still. The tiny move in the needle bar, translates to needle flex and a missed stitch, but this is only a consideration if you have a LOT of miles on the machine.

A fairly simple tension issue

If tension is nearly perfect on most areas but tends to be disruptive only on curves, you are almost set.  Bobbin tension needs to be a touch tighter, or top needs to be a touch looser. Remember not to over-tighten the quilt sandwich (on a longarm).

Not thread, but rather a needle mixed with batting

A frustrating example of a needle hitting the “neeps” (hard balls of cotton batting) combined with the equally frustrating hallmark of digitally printed fabric. The pull is causing the un-pigmented threads to turn and run. My recommendation is a thinner needle. Slick or shiny threads vs this cotton “rough” thread will also help, as the slick thread will not drag the fiber as much. As a last resort, mist the backing and try a ball needle instead of a sharp one.

Typically these loops are coming from the top thread path, and are seen on the backing

Thread twists/loops coming from the top threading are typically coming from a jerky off-pull from the cone of thread. A thread net on the thread cone, or adding more guides to the thread path will help as will increasing top tension (and matching bottom tension to maintain nesting). Long arms often have multiple holes on spindles in the thread path, try using more of them than you might usually to increase thread smoothness.

I will point out that most folks don’t realize the relationship between thread behavior on the top (like the above image and the little thread burps from the top thread) and the bobbin off-spin. If a bobbin does not spin smoothly in its case, it can get “sticky”. These tiny pauses in the bobbin off-spin cause momentary tighter tension which “yanks” the top thread and can contribute to those “burps”. So, managing the top thread in the above suggestion will control the “burps”, you should not ignore the possibility of “sticky” bobbin off-spin.

Some causes of sticky bobbin off-spin:

1. Overfilled bobbins which flare them. Lots of pre-wound bobbins are over filled and need to have several yards pulled off. Lots of self wound bobbins are wound too fast and too much, and the friction (heat) plus extra thread can flare the bobbin.
2. A slightly bent bobbin case, caused by dropping at some point. Or in the case of metal bobbins, a bad one.
3. A plastic bobbin, whose little thread hole has a tiny burr on it from manufacturing getting caught for a moment on the metal bobbin backlash spring. I personally get this often with the brand of pre-wound bobbins I use (Wonderfil). It is easily solved by a quick nail file on that rough spot of the bobbin. (I otherwise LOVE this pre-wound)
4. Bobbins that use a cardboard side core (Superior brand) getting distorted and snarling with the backlash spring. I have routinely used this brand happily, but tear off the cardboard sides.
5. Hand wound bobbins that weren’t wound tight enough to start with and have laxity in the wind.

Typically needle flex and directional quilting

Needle flex can cause the tension to go from good to flat as you move. This will usually be improved with a less flexible needle, like titanium or larger size. On a rail longarm, the top should NEVER be drum tight, loosen it so it drapes gently over the throat plate. Loosening the “sandwich” drape cures many longarm problems

Start over completely

Personally I feel high contrast mis-matched thread of light grey and red is a HUGE mistake. Free motion quilting puts a lot of strain on the needle and thread and it is VERY unlikely you will never, ever get a pokie one direction or the other. If you feel you MUST have very different threads, I recommend a thick batting and keeping your quilt tension (if in a frame longarm) very loose. Issues of holes but no stitch are addressed above, but as the red bobbin thread is pulling up too, the top thread is far too tightly tensioned here.

There are lots more problems that happen all the time with thread, honestly we deserve an award for not putting our quilting machines in a bonfire sometimes.

Here are a few classic other issues I don’t have images for:

1. The needle suddenly pulls up a snarl of thread, looking like there are now two pieces of bobbin thread. This is classic backlash behavior in the bobbin. The bobbin has over-rotated, which usually happens when slowing down suddenly, or speeding up suddenly. A backlash spring in the bobbin does wear out, it should be replaced from time to time. Other styles of backlash springs like the “eyeball” shaped one, or a Bobbin Genie (teflon disk), or even the Glide company Magna-Glide bobbins with the magnetic core.
2. (Related to #1)A pile of thread snarl on the backing, at points of direction change but NOT the snarl that can occur when you are first starting with fresh thread (for that, hold your thread tails). If you see a pile of thread snarl at some direction changes, this is bobbin over rotation releasing too much thread. It was spinning fast, you came to a stop, and the bobbin didn’t stop with you. This is cured by your bobbin backlash spring. So, getting these snarls is an indication your backlash spring needs replacing, or stretching for a tighter fit, or a different style of backlash spring.
3. Thread is shredding before the needle. Sometimes it is hard to tell where the shred is coming from. Most folks do NOT change their needle often enough, and a fragile thread can shred from going through poorly pierced fabric. Often however the abrasion is coming from the thread path, looping past a screw, a thread guide developing a groove, the finish wearing off a powder coated tension disk, etc. Don’t discount a nicked throat plate or a flattened or damaged hook assembly. A hook should be stabby sharp, but have totally smooth sides, no bent tip. Non wax dental floss is very fray prone. Rub it through every part of your thread path to try to find the abrasion. Adding thread guides is extremely helpful to tame bouncing thread. Ceramic coated fishing guides, glued with epoxy will really help if you have a spot the thread is very bouncy and causes it to routinely get caught on a screw or similar.

Hope this helps

Feel free to share this with your friends, quilt guild or social media.
Happy quilting,
Bethanne