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Fearless Stipple Quilting
Pat's Pointers
In our October 2006 issue, we presented part 3 of Patricia Nelson's Fearless Stipple Quilting Easy Lesson. Here Pat shares her tips on quilting with invisible monofilament.
If you want to use monofilament in the needle and bobbin, set up your sewing machine for regular sewing. Run a 2" row of straight stitches and then pull the top thread out. If the thread comes out easily with no resistance, the top tension is too tight. Loosen the tension dial by one half to one number increments and repeat this first step. Next run another row of stitches to check the bobbin tension. If there is no resistance, the top tension is too loose. Tighten the tension just a bit. This may seem tedious, but it usually takes a couple of tries to balance tension this way. When top and bobbin tension are balanced, both threads should pull out with the same resistance. This works best with needle size 75/11 and with .004 invisible monofilament thread.
I have a separate marked bobbin case just for use with monofilament thread. To get the correct tension or close to it, I thread the case with a bobbin full of the monofilament and tighten the tension screw until it has a similar resistance as my regular bobbin case with a full bobbin. This makes the top tension adjustment much quicker.
Another way to adjust bobbin tension is to hold the threaded case in the air by the thread over your open palm. Try to bounce it like a yo-yo. If the bobbin unrolls freely, then it is too loose. Tighten the tension a bit and test again. If the bobbin won't slide like a yo-yo, loosen the tension a bit.
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