I just had a revelation - I think I forgot to put my feed dogs down. If that was the case, could that cause my needles to break? The more I think about it that must be what is happening. I was sewing a curved line and moving the fabric from right to left, sideways across where the needle goes down (east to west). If the feed dogs were engaged, then the machine was trying to sew from the bottom up (north to south).

But why wouldn't this break the needle when sewing on my test fabric? hummm.... at least I have something new to try when I get home.

Would this mess up my tension too?

Sorry for the long ranting posts!

Trying to FMQ will definitely be a problem if your feeddogs are still up. So I would try that fix first.

With that said, you may still have problems. Sorry to say. You have an awful lot of layers/thickness in this quilt, plus the added spray basting could add trouble to the needle.

As much as you want curved quilting, this may be the quilt that requires a walking foot and straight line quilting.

Lola, I think you have too many things working against you to FMQ this one...the main problems would be the fusible interfacing and the spray basting...both of those will probably gum up the needle. Also, it's so many layers (I'm just curious - what is the purpose of 2 layers of batting?)!

I think you're best bet with this one may be in the ditch quilting. I recently made a watercolor quilt like yours with squares fused to interfacing then sewn, and it was a bear to quilt w/o the extra layer of batting. I use #18 needles on the machine on my frame. I didn't break a needle, but I broke the thread plenty of times.

Donna

And I'd ignore that comment about jeans needles making holes. I use them all the time and you don't see any more holes than the usual needle. You need the thickest, toughest needle they make. Compare them at a store and go for industrial strength!

I agree with toolgranny - use a denim needle and you may need to change the needle frequently - so many layers and 'stuff'. You may need a titanium needle. Clean the needle if it is gumming up from the adhesive. I agree you need to cross all those seams for strength.
On my Pfaff - tension is disengaged when Free motion - so for me, tension is determined by the movement of the sewer - feed dogs down.

Where on the needles is the breakage? Is the thread still in the eye after it is broken?

Also check your thread path --- make sure the thread is not hanging up somewhere and when you try to stitch more than 9" it catches on something and the added 'tension' snaps the needle. 9" sounds like a length of thread from spool pin to needle.

Clean and dust machine well and rethread with different needle (denim) - different thread - drop the feed dogs - make sure your pressure foot is in the correct free motion position.

Let us know how you make out.

Also check the plate around the feed dogs to be sure it is screwed down properly. Some plates just slide-click and those seem to be the easiest to get out of place when handling thick layers; if the plate is not in place the needle will hit it, or sometimes just nick it. My sewing machine's plate has the scars to prove the nicks (from when I made DD's denim jeans).

Re needle size: the larger the needle the larger the hole it will make, however many fabrics will not "show" the holes, especially if you are using a ball point instead of a sharp. I use a #9 sharp for quilting, and have had no problems with breakage in spite of multiple layers of fusing, batting, material and spray basting. In fact, last week I finished DD's quilt; the binding was fused as well as the rest of the usual, so we are talking about the needle going through fabric [binding], fusible, fabric [top, so there are seam layers as well as some fused pieces], spray-baste, batting (extra-high) ,spray-baste, fusible,and fabric [bottom]. Do note that I go much *slower* than usual, so that the needle has time to fully complete its upstroke. The last time I broke a needle was a couple years ago while high-speed sewing two layers of plain cotton.

Good suggestions. It also helps to be using a machine designed to bite through heavy material. I have found that even then, with some exceptionally bulky seams and a denim needle I have to slow down and rarely, but on occasion, help the machine by turning the ram by hand. I repeat slow down. If the ram has enough force to drive a resistant needle through cloth, and it failed to go through the cloth, something has to give and it'll be the needle.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I came home tonight and was excited to drop the feeddogs and quilt away, but thankfully some of your comments prepared me for what happened next...the needle broke again! I decided that enough was enough and I should change tactics and I got out my walking foot. I'm happy to report that I have not broken a needle since changing to the walking foot. The thread has broken a few times, but I've been adjusting my tension and I'm going very slowly and I've just managed several lines with no thread breakage, so I'm definitely on the right track. I really appreciate the comments that FMQ just might not work, because I felt like it was something that I was doing wrong and if I could just figure it out I'd be able to FMQ.

I'm happy to finish this quilt with the walking foot. But I thought I'd answer the questions that some of you asked below...

I read Angela Walter's blog and she often quilts with 2 layers of batting to add extra poof and show off the quilting. (She also is a professional and long arm quilter.) Anyway, I just wanted to try it to see what it would do to the quilting. I had planned to quilt a feather with lots of swirls and other filler around and I thought a double batting would be interesting.

I didn't buy a denim needle, but the next time I'm in a quilt store I'll pick up some and then I can try this again sometime.

The needle breaks above the eye. The thread is still in the eye after it's broken.

The plate around the feeddogs is not moving or getting in the way - but that was a good thought. Meldy, I wish you were my neighbor because it sounds like you are able to FMQ through a LOT of layers!

I'm using a Juki TL 98E, which I think is pretty tough.

Thanks again for all of your help. I'm feeling so much better than I was last night!

Lots of interesting suggestions! I'm glad you were able to find something that worked for you, Lola. Too bad you had to abandon the FMQ idea on this one but I'm sure the straight line quilting will look good too.

I like Angela Waters but never considered using double batting. I may have to think about trying that, at least on a smaller quilt with not too many seams.

Kate

Lola, I'm glad you're having better luck! I would wait to try those swirly feathers on a solid border or block so they can be seen! Quilting disappears into prints and often into pieced blocks as well.

Donna

I had forgotten about one episode I had with a FMQ foot last year. The foot had shifted on the shaft and was a bit loose and allowed the needles to enter the material at an angle, instead of exactly perpendicular to the cloth. I broke a whole package of needles before I figured that out.