Hi Karen, I know Meg has the Designer 1, hopefully she will be able to assist you in this problem.


Love Chris

I've had that problem with my Designer1 at times. It just seemed suddenly to gobble up a lot of thread and create a mess at the back. Problem turned out to be caused by some thread caught between and around the tension disks. Problem with the D1 is you can't reach and clean those disks yourself without opening up the machine. So I got into the habit of threading through dental floss and moving it backward and forward every time I had had a thread broken. That helped a lot to keep the disks clean.

when my D1 is doing that I find it is my uppper tension. even when I think I have threaded right. I always put the foot down and give a tug on the thread if it pulls through the tension is off. In fact mine is in the shop for just this reason lost the upper tension totally this time LOL. Was taught if it is knotting on the bottom it is the top tension knotting on the top it is the bobbin, oppisite of were the goof up is.

What can happen, if it is a satin stitch design and the satin stitch is too long for the machine to recognise, it will play up like this.
Otherwise I am not sure what could do this but here is a check list.
New needle.
Needle size.
Top Tension.
Bobbin Tension.
Quality of thread.
Fabric.
Stabiliser.
Machine's registration may need adjustment.
Sorry I can't think of other causes, maybe if you go to Superior threads. com you may find an answer, they seem to have lots of info there.

TO ME IT CAN'T HELP ITSELF IT SEEMS TO MISS A BEAT ,MAKE A LOOP AND THEN A MESS .I FIND I NEED TO CLEAN MINE WITH MY AIR COMPRESURER AT THAT POINT

Even my regular old Kenmore sewing machine will do that to me and make me mad. It is all metal, durable and will probably last my life time and many more but it'll knot it all up on the under side too.

I have upgraded to the Diamond and that removable panel is not on the older D1 or SE models! The Saphire (only sew/no ME) has it and it is a time saver. Just pull toward you on the lower part of where the take up lever is and it pops off.
Re thread problem: Two things, The "take up lever" that is the last thing you thread on the top (before heading to the needle area) sometimes jumps track and the thread ends up going straight from the tension disks to the needle area (ask how handy that removeable panel is now!) and can cause all kinds of havoc. Usually looks like a birds nest of TOP thread, and if you have used the thread cutter it looks like spaghetti pieces! You know the whole bobbin area has to be dismantled and cleaned then.
Second, I have gotten into the habit of holding the top thread (loosely, don't pull tight or you will break needles, wanna know how I know that?). The machine will either cut your thread and you can pull the ends away, or it will stop and you can cut it, depending how you have it set. For some reason these machines suck too much top thread down on occasion, and it causes all that thread to grow a nest. This little trick seems to help alot, and makes the knots on the back less messy. Linda

Just a note re canned air...take a look at this site! Linda

I also had it one time. This might work for you. Thread the embroidery cotton again.
I hope it works for you

Good luck with your machine's performance. Please follow the very good tips below, since I would recommend the one of the upper thread tension as well. It really works. Thanks for the question. ****

This is what I have learned at work....if the problem is on the bottom it is the top tension and if the problem is on top it is the bottom tension. Hope this helps. DeVon

I have had this happen on very dense stitch counts and found that doubling up on the stabilizer always sorted out the problem. I also prefer to cut the threads rather than leave the machine to deal with thread ends underneath (am assuming you also have a thread cutter...) Also, cotton thread seems to exude a vast amount of fluff - which doesn't help.

My machine's tension is really tricky. Sometimes I'll stitch one thing and it is perfect, while the next has this nest of thread underneath. What I have found is, I haven't really grabbed the tension on top. Now, when it doesn't seem to have the tension it needs, I do 2-3 stitches of the color, then thread the needle, start the color over and it stitches great. It's all an upper tension thing when the mess is on the bottom - for me at least...

Even with my Diamond, I have trouble sometimes with the satin stitches. Have found if I let the thread run thru my hand so it's just a little bit tight, it works. BUT if you are doing something that's lots of stitches, this can be hard! Also sat my thread on the floor other day to see if that helped & it did! We really should not have these problems with the price we pay for those machines!! Let us know what happens.