Tension

My friend recently took her machine in to get repaired, something I've never done. I've been quilting since I was 17 and I've never taken a machine in. Ever. No tuneups, repairs, nothing. Now maybe it's because my machines are just pretty decent...ly average. I mean, my friend took hers in because it was stuck in reverse. She actually sewed things IN REVERSE!! Seriously. For a long time. Maybe you didn't read that properly. She sewed. In reverse. I finally convinced her that she should just take it in to get fixed instead of trying to sew circles...in reverse. Which would give me a tension headache. Oh wait, I already have one of those.

My tension headache started about a year ago when my then 1 year old decided to...well, I don't really know what he did. But it involved a lot of thread, bobbins, the shuttle hook, the thread tension dial, the feed dogs...I swear, I only went to the bathroom! But there was a lot of mangled thread to remove from the bobbin case. And I also swear I turned the machine off, he did all that magic by hand. Ever since he "sewed", the tension has been off. And it makes a racket. Not the smooth, soothing sound sewing should be, more like a dying, grinding treadmill. I had only had the machine for about 9 months, but it was a glorious nine months while it lasted. Just take it in, Jenn! I would, but I really want that Bounty of Basics, so I'd rather attempt to fix it myself. Here's what I got out of the experience.

It may not look like a lot, but I felt like I was pulling tons of thread lint from all over the place! And the tension is much better, I now have it set in between 4 and 5 as opposed to 7+