Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 And Skipped Stitches

I can see from my blog stats that people are searching for answers on the Pfaff QE 4.2 and skipped stitches.

The machine should not skip stitches during normal straight line stitching so I am assuming that this must be related to FMQ.

Yep, definitely also has happened to me and is a sign that something is not quite right. Here are some basic steps that you may want to try:

1. Change the needle. Even if you have just put a new needle in, it could be that the needle is somewhat faulty. Even brand new packets sometimes have faulty needles.
2. Consider whether you are using the wrong needle for your thread.  As a general rule, I use an 80/12 needle for 50/3 cotton thread. When using 50/2 cotton thread, and doing slow feather work, I generally use a 70/10 sharp needle.
2. Re-thread your machine
3. Clean out the bobbin case

If, after all this you still get skipped stitches check your settings
(it is amazing how many times I forget a few steps when setting up for FMQ)
- have you set your stitch length to zero?
- have you lowered your feed dogs ?
Although these first two steps should not really give you skipped stitches, I always go right back to the beginning of the set up. Then check:
- are you using the 6D Dynamic foot in the 6D Dynamic Freemotion mode?
- are you using an Open toe Springloaded foot in the Spring foot setting? Try using the Springloaded foot in the Dynamic setting because chances are the opening of the foot interferes with the machine grabbing the thread at the right time.
- if using the Open Sensormatic foot lower the pivot height in the settings menu.
- use Magic Genie Bobbin Washers. These are little teflon washers that you just put into the bobbin case. They will lift the bobbin just that fraction to address the timing issue.

- if all fails, take your machine for a service and ask the technician to adjust the timing of the machine

It just so happens that I am  doing some FMQ with the new Open Toe Springloaded foot. I am participating in the FMQ Challenge that Quiltshopgal is hosting. Check it out HERE if you have not already heard about it.  Lots of fun and lots of learning...but more on that at the end of the month when the link up will take place.                           

The new Open toe Springloaded foot requires you to take the shank off which gives great visibility all around. I quite like this foot.

New Open toe Springloaded foot

Settings that I used

As I already am aware that the Pfaff QE 4.2 is somewhat sensitive to the Open toe feet, I placed one of those Magic Genie bobbin washers into the bobbin. This worked fine for the most of it, however I did have about 2 skipped stitches...not a big deal you may think, but if you are in the middle of an amazing feather shape, that does spoil it a bit and is something that I personally find extraordinarily annoying. I then set the presser foot pivot height to -1 which makes the presser foot go down just that little bit lower onto the fabric as it lifts up and down with every stitch. Had no more problems for the rest of the feathers and was quite happy. However, I will mention this at my next service as I do think that needs an eeny-weeny adjustment. I then proceeded to do some other FMQ design in the surrounding area at a higher speed and again experienced a couple of skipped stitches...so now I am changing over to the Dynamic 6D foot for the faster designs, as I definitely did not have that problem with that foot.

Now I better get a move on that FMQ challenge piece as we are already half way through the month. Somehow the new year has just descended on me and I am blissfully disorganised...have not linked up to my usual linky hang outs as I keep missing the days or am doing something completely different. Hopefully by February I will be back into some sort of routine.

Until next time

Karin

A Little Present To Myself

Actually a more biggish present. I purchased another thread box from Aurifil. Yep, could not help myself.

The Basics Collection by Mark Lipinski

Was just a bit sick and tired of finding the right thread...where I live there are only a few shops where I can actually buy Aurifil thread. So I started looking for a sandy type thread for my Charm Square quilt over Ebay but after a while I decided to go for the whole box. Colour matching over the internet was just too tricky. 

I am glad I did...the colours that I had intitially chosen were a slightly different hue then I thought and what I call beige is actually a very light beige in the Aurifil range. Got 2 whites, 4 different shades of beige/sand (Sandstone is the perfect fit), 3 greys and 1 black...together with my other thread box from Aurifil I will not have to buy any new thread for a very long time. Each spool has 1300m of thread, which goes for a very long time...

I am chuffed. These threads came from the US at www.pictureperfectthreads.com . Good service, fast and efficient, it took less than a couple of weeks to get here. A word on threads in Australia. While I am conscious of supporting local business I nearly fell over when I saw the price difference. Even with postage which was not discounted in any way, I did get this thread a good 1/3 cheaper than here in Australia.

Could not believe it...so definitely paid a small fortune for the first thread box that I bought here in Australia.

 If you have not tried the Aurifil thread, give it a go. It is lovely thread, smooth and has a slight sheen to it. There is not a lot of lint which is great as I do a lot of FMQ. I am definitely hooked on this thread.

Karin

2014 Finishes

Disappearing Four Patch Quilt

Windmill Baby Quilt

Dresden Plate Table Runner

Finished Cheryl's Quilt (or was this in 2013?)

Finished UFO from 2013

New UFO - still needs binding

Scrappy Squares Quilt - most enjoyable

Fan Purse

99 Hexagons

and lots of FMQ practice

Overall, a productive year...I was actually quite surprised

Karin

Happy New Year

A belated Happy New Year to everybody.

I was going to blog a bit earlier however worked over the Christmas and New Year period and finally the weekend came...

Well, we are in the midst of a major bush fire here in South Australia (temperatures were over 40 degrees yesterday). Normally this does not really affect us as we live in suburbia, however last night the fire came awfully close. We live on the outskirts of town and my daughter woke us in the middle of the night as she had received a text from a friend. When we went outside the driveway was littered with ash and the smoke was becoming uncomfortable...the fire still being a fair way away but heading towards suburbia. Unreal...the ash reminded me of gentle snowing. Indecision reigned for a while and our electronic gadgets proved difficult in terms of getting accurate information. In the end we dragged out an old radio and listened to the emergency channel all night. Got very little sleep, just listening to the radio and the warnings. Packed a few random things and got ready to leave. By the morning the wind had changed with the fire heading the other way which has caused some devastation in the hills with many houses lost...the radio is still going now in the evening to see whether there is another change of wind. Apparently it is still burning out of control but so far no warnings for our suburb however still very dangerous as they are expecting thunderstorms.

I walked into the sewing room yesterday night trying to think what I should take...could not decide as there are so many valuable things in there, so that I decided not to pack anything from that room. I envisaged me standing there in a panic wasting time with confusion over what to take...so I closed the door.

Anyway, finally finished off my WIP today...yah! This has been a painful process

This should be a very easy quilt to make and normally it would be. The quilt is constructed using 4.5" squares, placing 2.5" squares on either side, sewing on the diagonal and then trimming the seam allowances to 1/4" seam. YES, except this is not how I constructed this...remember me talking about my obsession to use up my fabric? I had won a bundle of bright fabric some time ago, however I only had a Fat Quarter of each of the yellow and green fabrics and was determined to make this work. So I cut out 2.5" HST and carefully positioned them over my white squares, sewing them on the bias and cursing all the way through. Not recommended...while all possible, it was quite cumbersome to align the HST correctly. But here it is...tada, all done and absolutely no fabric left!

I am so happy that this is done. I will now complete my other quilt top and then set up my machine for FMQ.

Have you heard about Sewcalgal's FMQ Challenge? Sewcalgal has changed her blogging platform and can now be found as QuiltShopGal at www.quiltshopgal.com. Check out the 2015 FMQ Challenge...lots of options to participate, share and learn from each other as well as lots of prizes from very generous sponsors. This will be great fun.

Until next time
  

Karin

Christmas 2014

Can't believe a year has passed. This photo was taken last year in Germany, Moelln - a residence of a puppetmaker in one of those cobblestoned small side streets.
                                   

Wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Quilty New Year.

Karin

Progress On New WIPs

Made some progress on my new piecing projects

After some rummaging through my stash found some additional white fabric. Not exactly sure what happened here but did some massive miscalculation when I started this off.

The baby quilt is going to look quite cute, I think. I am a bit worried about the different white fabric in between, however it will be placed consistently in each corner of each star so I can pretend it was meant to be like that.

Now the bottom design is an entirely different matter. I think I said previously that these were not my colours...and yep, it shows. My daughter and I both stood in front of this and we both said that this looked rather ...bla. Not sure this works actually. I did try different colours to partially frame the blocks on the EQ7 however using a darker colour like the brown in the middle of one block and the whole framing tended to take over the quilt. Using a green solid colour looked just plain odd, as some of the Charm squares got a blueish hue to it.

Has this ever happened to you? I think I will continue with this arrangement even though I am not a 100% and just hope that the overall vision of this quilt comes through. It might turn out a ...bla...quilt, something that is neither here nor there. Those colours are just too soft for me. I have in mind to FMQ the disconnected frame around the blocks quite heavily and that may lift this up...one can only hope.

Have another similar design already cut out which will be better as the colours are dark and succinct. I think that will be an easier quilt to work on for me. Maybe I should start that one as well...haha!

Karin

No Reply Bloggers

Just a quick note re No Reply bloggers. I have had a few people email me over the last few months who were No Reply Bloggers.
Please check when you email that you don't fall in this category as there is absolutely no way I can email you back. This is always such a pity and I would hate to think that people think they are just dealing with a person who does not bother to answer. I have a link in my tutorial page on how to fix this, however if you look over the Internet there is heaps of info re this.

Anyway, today Heulwen ask re the new Open Toe Freemotion Spring Foot...hoping that you read this!
The new foot (821064096 J) is in Pfaff's updated accessories catalogue. The letter J behind the number is important as this is the one for the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2.

Please email me if you have any other questions and include a return email.

Karin