Tension Tips for Q-matic Success

How is your thread tension when using a longarm with a computerized system like the Q-matic? Is it always perfectly balanced? In this blog post, we will talk about how to perfect your tension while using Q-matic.

Learning While Doing

A thing I struggle with sometimes is the tension of my bottom thread when using the Q-matic. For me, the top will always look great. Beautiful stitches, lovely texture. But then, when it’s time to turn the bars and move the quilt up, I notice the bottom tension wasn’t perfect.

Now, perfect isn’t my goal when quilting. Every quilt will teach me something. With every quilt, I will improve a little bit. But getting pretty good tension with every quilt would be nice, wouldn’t it?

So I thought, let’s write a blog post about it. That will push me to research the topic of tension and will hopefully leave me with better tension while using the Q-matic after sharing all the information with you as well.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Last year, I got to meet Sarah Caldwell, Head of Education at BERNINA International. We met in the Netherlands at Elly Prins quilt studio. I got to ask Sarah all the questions I had after I tried the BERNINA Q 24 for a few months. Elly Prins runs a longarm service and has multiple BERNINA Longarms. It was wonderful to see their setup and workflow. Such amazing quilting they do.

It was there that I noticed a clever way to check the stitches on the back of a quilt—by placing a mirror underneath. I had been using my phone camera to take pictures in order to inspect the stitches, but the mirror method is so simple and effective.

Now we can see what is going on on the back, we can start thinking about how to improve those stitches.

Talking Tension

So tension-wise wise there probably will be one of three situations:

• Top tension too high or Bobbin tension too low: This will show the bobbin thread on the top of your quilt
• Top tension too low or Bobbin tension too high: This will show the top thread on the back of your quilt
• Perfect tension: a good balance between top and bobbin tension, your stitches will look great on both sides.

Adjust Top Tension

You can adjust the top tension on your Q 24 in the menu. It’s easy to play with this setting, since it is just a digital setting on your machine.

Adjust Bobbin Tension

The bobbin tension can be adjusted by removing the bobbin case from the machine and placing it in the bobbin thread tension gauge. The video below explains how to use this little device.

How to Get the Perfect Tension

Now that we know our options to change the tension, we need to know what to do to get perfect tension.

Trouble Shooting

Before you start changing the tension, it is always good to first check the following:

• Is your machine threaded correctly? Sometimes, re-threading the machine fixes your tension issues.
• When did you last change your needle? Starting a new project with a new needle is always a good idea.
• Does the machine need some care? Cleaning and oiling the machine will help to keep it running smoothly.
• New bobbin? Check the bobbin tension with the tension gauge.

Adjusting while Running the Q-matic

When you are free-motion quilting on your longarm or doing ruler work, you can stop and check your tension any time you like.

But what do you need to do to adjust the tension while using the Q-matic? Luckily, after you press start on your Q-matic system, you don’t need to wait until a whole sequence is finished. You can let the machine run for a short while, pause the machine, and then check your tension.

What you already see in the image above is that you can change the top tension right after you press pause. No need to stop the Q-matic and start over. Just pressing pause is enough.

Let’s assume that we did all the troubleshooting mentioned above. Then the only thing left to change is our top tension when the bobbin thread shows on the top or when the top thread shows on the bottom.

Bobbin Thread Showing on Top

When your bobbin thread is showing on the top, the top thread is pulling too hard on the bobbin thread. This means we need to lower the top tension. You get a lower top tension by setting the top tension to a lower number.

Just lower the tension, continue stitching, and pause and check again. Don’t be afraid to play with the settings. When you don’t see the bobbin stitches at the top of your quilt anymore (and the back of the quilt still looks good,) you have found the correct tension.

Top Thread Showing on the Bottom

When the top thread is showing on the back of the quilt, the bobbing thread is pulling too hard on the top thread. Or the other way around, the top thread isn’t pulling hard enough on the bobbin tension. This means you will need to increase the top tension.

Increase the top tension until the stitches are similar on the back of the quilt and the top of the quilt. When you see the bobbin thread start popping up on the top of the quilt, you know you increased the top tension too much.