I posted this exact thing on MQR, so apologies to those of you reading this twice…

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Hokay, soooo… needles. I hope this is in the right topic. And sorry if it’s a slight saga…

I FINALLY got the embroidery needles from Ed Raichert (a la Sharon Schamber) two weeks ago, but it took me a few days to get around to trying them. I got the right length for my A-1 (135×17… I’ve learned a lot about needles in my phone convos with Jason Raichert) but I checked my needle bar height and timing before starting anyways. Seemed perfect. Didn’t have to touch a thing and didn’t unscrew anything in the hook region… Put it in, threaded the 80/12 with the Masterpiece I had already on the machine. Basted across the top perfectly. Gorgeous stitching. Hot knife through butter. Went to baste down the right side and WHAM — broken needle on the first stitch. So I replaced it and tried again. Checked the top and bobbin tension before starting again (just in case it broke because the thread was too tight. Sandwich was relatively floppy, too. Two stitches then WHAM again. I gave up and went back to the GB 16. I gave a 90/14 a try after I’d basted the sides. Same thing happened, but it gave me a few more stitches first. So that 16 took me for a few rows until I realized that my timing was slipping. Went to check it and OMG — two of my screws were missing! DH had moved the machine the week before so they fell out but they probably wiggled loose after the last time I timed it. I must have forgotten to tighten them back. I have no idea how I managed to sew for so long with only one screw in the hook assembly. I found one on the floor but never found the other one. I hunted all over town for a match in vain before Gerald was sweet enough to send me another one.

Ever since then, I’ve been getting huge skipped stitches. I tried every size of needle I own. Gerald and Sandy both walked me through all the possibilities. Timing it for the 6th time in 3 hours, I got it close. But after a little bit of sewing, it would start up again and get worse and worse. I brought the DH down to keep me company (and sane) while I debugged. He debugs for a living (programmer) so it heped to have him there. We systematically did every adjustment in the realm of possibility and kept track as we went. Using Masterpiece top and bottom I ended up: tightening the top tension quite a bit, tweaking the bobbin a little, renaming the machine (yes!) aaaannnnndddd….

Putting in a 135×7 (shorter needle)

I don’t understand why it works. I told Lola that I would give her gold needles if she wanted as long as they worked. She demanded short. Maybe it’s just the fact that I only have two layers of fabric on the machine and that the top layer is satin. Maybe it’s just a combination of things. I am completely baffled. I *hope* when I put a regular quilt back on the machine that it behaves like normal and stops this nonsense. And I vow to never ever again use a polyester satin in a wearable!