QUILTsocial | Issue 07

Stitch length is determined by how fast
you move your piece of fabric and how
fast the sewing machine is sewing.
Settings for the Free Motion Spring Action technique
The Free Motion Technique remains
selected even when you turn the sewing
machine off and back on again. The
Sapphire 960Q will remain in this mode
until you turn the Free Motion Technique
feature off which is easy to do, just hit
the Free Motion Technique icon and
deselect the free motion techniques.
only go as fast as you have set it for. It's
a good idea to mess around with the
speed to find one that you're the most
comfortable with.
It's amazing how many people are
afraid to mess around with their
sewing machines. Even worse is they
think they should know all this stuff.
The more I play with different techniques,
the more I learn and I can use that
knowledge base to take things to the
next step. I just recently read somewhere
that if you don't make mistakes and try
new things, you're not learning. So get
some scrap fabric and batting and check
out the various speeds. Which one do
you like best?
Needle Stop Up/Down function IS selected (on
the right)
You also want to make sure that you
attach the Free Motion Spring Foot to
the sewing machine. I prefer the one
with the wide open toe so I see my
work clearly.
Choosing Thread
One of the things I love about the
Sapphire 960Q is that no matter what
thread I put on it, I got excellent tension
and very nicely formed stitches. I can't
stress how important this is. While you
can mess with the tension control on all
sewing machines, I would much prefer
to not have to.
I usually choose thread based on the
color, not on the weight or the brand.
In this case, all my backing fabric was
the same, so I used the same 50 weight
thread in the bobbin for the entire
project. That's the thread on the left.
Then I chose heavier weight threads for
the top – but only because that was
what thread I had in the colors I wanted.
Pop up message to remind you the Sapphire
960Q is set for free motion
Taking as many variables out of the
picture as possible is one way to
achieve great success with free motion
quilting. The next variable we're going
to remove is speed. Adjust the speed
of the Sapphire 960Q so when you
start quilting, the sewing machine will
Adjust the speed
Another good tip is to always use your
Needle Stop Up/Down feature. If you
need to stop for whatever reason, the
needle will stop in your quilt sandwich
which prevents it from moving when
you take your hands off and you won't
end up with a big giant stitch.
Needle Stop Up/Down function is NOT selected
(on the right)
Two different weight threads were used for the
bobbin and the top
I decided to be very adventuresome
and use the same bobbin thread for all
the blocks, but I changed the top thread
depending on the color of my top fabric.
I used three different brands of thread
on the top with three different thread
weights: a 30 weight, a 35 weight and
a 40 weight. Only one of the threads
required that I make a slight adjustment to
the tension which I'll show you in a minute.
Q
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UILTsocial
| issue 7 57