New Baby Quilt

Having some trouble with the baby quilt I am currently doing.

I am using an unfamiliar thread (to me): Superior Fantastico 40/3wt  (with Bottomline 60 wt in the bobbin) and  ever so slightly variegated. Cannot seem to get the tension quite right (always almost there but never quite right). When I set the bobbin correctly the top tension is too loose. When I tighten it then I have flat lining on top...and so it goes.

This is what I am doing and I reckon I will have to un-stitch a few rows because of the flat lining on the top. Not sure I can handle this

In parts the stitches look alright, possibly due to how I am holding the ruler, but the more I kept looking at this I thought this is just not right.

So today I spent some quality time with the machine...did not get angry with the machine rather went calmly through different scenarios, i.e loosening the bobbin tension (going by what is suggested in a chart on the Superior website). Now that just did not work for me at all...definite flat lining happening! Then played around with the threading of the machine and decided that I will use only 2 holes...yep, that did not work either really. Some improvement but still not quite right.

I think I knew all along that the bobbin needed changing for this thread. I believe that this is a fairly strong thread used for high speed quilting. Thinking about it I thought that it made sense then to tighten the bobbin tension beyond the 'normal' spot to put some muscle into the bottom thread. Cranked up the bobbin tension to a point where it does not slide down anymore and you normally would say that it is too tight. That seems to be working better, so I am cautiously optimistic...

Did a lot more playing around with the thread on different settings and speed. Also changed neeedles in between and cranked it up to 50%...my stitches looked heaps better at the higher speed. However, for the rulerwork I will need to go much, much slower  and obviously tighten things up.

Don't really feel like undoing my stitching, but I know it will annoy me. Might start with undoing the last row and then continue on the areas that have not been quilted yet, then re-evaluate...

Karin