A Squeeky machine: Fix it!The story of a machine squeek. I have had this squeek for quite a while. It sounded so like it was coming from the front fly wheel. I have oiled and oiled till my machine probably feels like it is drowning in oil. It did nothing to fix the squeek. Today I climbed up to check out those cute black hole plug areas to look into the innards ( that's rather southern speak for inwards) of the thing. Nope, could not detect another oiling area needed. Then I turned the back fly wheel! Eureka! What I kept thinking was a front squeek was really a back squeek! Closer. I got to turning that wheel inching closer and closer to the sound. I first thought it was surely the belt that was drying out and would surely be about to give up the ghost, so to speak. Nope! It was back nearer the front, but only as far front as the side brushes! I had located the squeek!!!! NOW to fix it. I called Accomplish Quilting, and Jane who answered the phone put me on to a line where I could talk with Bob the repair person who was there today. He said to take out the brushes and be sure which way the printed number on the brush was originally inserted in the hole. Well, mine literally jumped out at me, so no idea, plus I have cleaned these brushes several times, so maybe I did not get it back in right before. Know what I mean? Well, back to the solution. Remove the brushes on both side. Get some rubbing alcohol, some Q tips (no not quilting tips, but the type you use to clean your ears), and a bottle of canned air. Use the alcohol dipped Q tips to rub all over the brushes including the solid metal part. (This was what I missed in earlier cleanings). Get that brush very clean. Also do this, which I also missed from an earlier cleaning. Use an alcohol dipped Q tip or maybe even several. Hold it inside the motor up against the turning rod inside. Rotate that rod and clean, clean, clean. Clean the opening area too. Both sides. Now it is important to remove any loose particles of metal and also dry out the alcohol, so use the canned air and well spray the inside area. That done, replace the brushes. Yeah, like that fully worked. Guess what happened. It squeeked again. It had totally stopped when I had the right brush out. What was going on? Well like a mad scientist, I removed the left brush and turned it upside down and replaced it. Turned the wheel, there was a squeek. I then returned to the right side, removed the brush, turned it upside down, replaced it. Voila! No squeek.
Now that you have read my tale, if you ever get a squeek, you will know what to do. smile.
How to get very fine and slick thread to run without breaking.
Today I had some real trouble with Superior Highlights thread breaking as I ran it. I determined to win so here is what I finally did to stop the thread breaking. I first made sure that the timing was right. The hook must be very close to the carved out portion of the needle so it can catch a very fine thread. Determining that was fine, I then wound a couple bobbins. I put them in bobbin case and loosened the tension to VERY loose. Checking it is easy, just pull on the thread tail before you insert bobbin case into bobbin area. It should slide out quite easily. After inserting both bobbins, I simply pulled on the tail of the thread (before coming up through needle plate hole. One of the bobbins pulled considerably tighter than the other. I used the bobbin which pulled out with the least tension. While most bobbins are just alike, occassionally one will be a tad smaller so it yields less tension. Why all this talk about just where I am pulling on the thread tails? As soon as you pull the thread into some slot or other, you may be increasing tension. My point is that while setting up the bobbin area, you want the thread to have very very little tension.
Now go to the top thread tensions. I want you to be sure you have your intermittent thread tensioner area threaded like in the picture below. Go into the little eyelet before the tensioner, take thread up and over counterclockwise, and on exiting, go back through the eyelet again before going up over the thread break wheel.
Threading this way has allowed me to run large cones of slick threads without needing thread nets.
Use sz 14 needle, 16 at most. Now loosen the tension at this spot a Great Deal. Remember we just loosened the bobbin about as much as we can. You must still keep a balanced tension to have nice stitches, but loosening one means loosening the other for balance. I also loosened the white tension wheel a couple turns. It seems to cause the thread to come out of the check spring in a bit of an angle and that helped too. Why? You'd have to ask the machine. I haven't a clue. It just did. You can pull on the top thread before putting the thread tail through the needle eye. That way you can judge how much tension is on the thread. Oh, I also had used only the first and last holes on the three hole tension area. NEVER wrap the thread around to the outsides of this three hole bar unless you have a very old machine withouth other means of adjusting tensions. I just go up through first (the one nearest machine back, and down through last, one nearest needle end of machine). When you pull on the thread tail you should feel very light tension. Now try a sample stitching. Do the stitches look good? You may be all set. If you keep getting breakage, keep working to adjust tensions downwards to loose as needed. Fine, thin, poly threads will stretch as they are run, so they become thinner still and more subject to breakage. Slowing the speed of the machine way down is also a help because of this. I run my Statler at about 40% when breakeage increases.
Hope this helps.
FREE Scroll down page for several tips. Tip names are in red. How to Create a Tee Shirt Quilt: I offer a supervised class for a fee if you prefer to have a teacher, but if you are good at following written directions this may be all you need.
The general way to create a tee quilt is this:
#1 Find a very light weight fusible interfacing which will be necessary to create blocks that don't stretch out of shape.
#2 Lay out the tees. Measure around the designs of the tees. What is the largest design? Be sure you use that size plus the seam allowance to cut out each of the tees. So, for example, say the largest design takes up about 15 inches across the front of one of the shirts. Add about a fourth inch to both sides for seaming and also another fourth inch on both sides so that there is a gap between the design and the seaming to keep it looking pleasant. That means you want to cut out each block at least 16 inches square. BUT DON'T CUT YET!
Let's think this through.
You will also need to be cutting fusible interfacing and heat setting it with your iron to to wrong side of the tee design. This fusing process will cause some shrinkage when the interfacing is applied, so please, cut out a piece of interfacing that is at least 17 inches square, and the same for the tee.
To do this more easily, cut out the sleeves of the shirt, and cut up the side seams. You need not separate the layers to do this, just lay the tee flat on your cutting board, and use your rotary cutter nice and carefully to cut around the armhole seams, and neck area, and cut up the side seams somewhere outside that 17 inch square zone.
Once you have your 17 inch interfacing cut, and your 17 inch square tee cut, find the center of each, and line them up. Be sure the glue side of the interfacing is against the wrong side of the tee's design, and fuse the two together using the hottest setting allowed by your tee and the fusible. The fusible will tell you what setting to use, and if you are to use steam or not. If your interfacing is a tad bit smaller than the tee, it is better. This will help keep any goop from getting stuck to your iron or your ironing board. Being careful to check the tee's fiber content prior to fusing it is also a must. Be careful not to get it too hot if it has a mix of fibers instead of being all cotton.
Also, be very careful about some of the puffy paints. Many melt when heat is applied. If you are unsure about an area of a tee, please put some paper over it before heating it. This will protect your iron. If it melts, you would not have been able to fuse the interfacing to it, and it might have ruined your quilt later on if touched up with an iron, so better to put it to the side and not use it.
Once you have the interfacing attached to the back or wrong side of the shirt's designed area, then cut it to the exact size you need for the blocks. In this example, that is 16 inches. Try to find a nice square template for rotary cutting the size you need. It will make getting nice squares easier to accomplish. If you need to get a larger than needed square, mark the lines you need on the square with a bit of tape to keep from using incorrect lines and ruining a block.
Once the blocks are cut, add your stripping using regular cotton fabric strips and cornerstones, and add a fabric border. You are now ready to quilt and then bind a nice, colorful, memory, tee quilt.
Free tip: better borders. I also offer a class on this if reading it turns out to be only as clear as mud.
See he pictures in my gallery here on my site to see why having flat evenly cut borders is needed for the best quilted quilt possible. Lay out your completed quilt top so it is truly flat. Several tables together work nicely. Can you use several tables pushed together at some group or church to which you belong?
Measure carefully at least three times across the quilt top and at least three times along the length of the quilt top, in separate areas. Now take the three numbers, add them and then divide by 3. Hopefully they were pretty nearly the same, or you may need to go back to the drawing board so to speak and work on your quilt top some more. Better borders will NOT fix bad piecing. But if all three measurements are about the same, take that average you got when dividing, and be sure to cut the borders that size for the two sides that match those measurements. Now take the three measurements going to opposite direction. Add them together and divide by 3. Again, we hope the average measurement is pretty close to the measurements of the other three measures. If not, see what needs to be fixed and do it. When measuring, do not use the outermost cut edge for the measuring. Use perhaps several seam lines. Seam lines won't give a lot and distort the measurement and you want to try to keep the seam lines straight when measuring. Getting a really long tape measure will simplify this step and having a friend who will hold the opposite end of the tape will make it as simple as can be.
Now that you have verified that your quilt is nearly the same measure across in all three points, and all length measures, you are ready to cut your borders.
Cutting a straight piece is very important. If you have enough length to cut the border from straight of grain, line up selvedge edges on one side of the fabric, fold layers carefully keeping edges well aligned. Cut off the selvedge, a most important step. Align your rotary ruler carefully with cut edge and carefully cut the other side keeping the piece even width throughout. If cutting the border across the grain, lift the fabric holding it by the two selvedge edges aligning them together. Now slide the selvedge edge that is facing you a bit to the right and left slowly. Watch the bottom folded edge of the fabric. When the folds, pulls or rippling disapears and the two layers of fabric lay flatly against one another,carefully put the fabric down on your cutting board. Now use a long rotary cutter to check to see if the folded edge and the selvedge edge both follow a straight horizontal line on your cutting ruler. If so, they really are aligned well. Now carefully cut out the border strip. It should come out without froming that dreaded V shape at the fold.
Once you have either cut or pieced your border to the size of the average measurement you determined, then fold the piece in half, and then in half again, marking these placements with pins or chalk marks. Fold your quilt top in half and again in half marking as before. Now match up the ends, and the marked spots. Pin on the border as much as is needed to keep it well aligned while sewing. If you must ease in the top or bottom layer a bit while sewing, do so. A walking foot will help keep the layers as flat together as possible. When you are done, the end spot of the sewing should be smooth with neither layer farther out than the other.
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