LESSON 1. GETTING TO KNOW THE FEATURES OF THE INTELLISTITCH. Finding out what all those buttons do and what the lights, beeps and numbers mean.

You should mount a practice piece of plain fabric and thread your machine with a contrasting color thread so you can clearly see your sewing. Read each paragraph through before following the instructions and have your I/S Turbo User Guide handy to refer to.

Move your machine to the side of your table away from the practice piece and make sure the needle is away from the clamps.

Turn on the power to your machine. It will take one stitch and some beeps will sound - how many beeps did you hear? One or two? What does this mean? Find out on page 1 of your user guide.

Every time you power up the machine it will take one stitch. This is simply a self checking step.

Go to the needle side or front of your machine. Move the machine over your practice piece. Bring the bobbin thread to the top by using the single stitch button. Where is the single stitch button? See page 3 of the user guide if you can't remember. Hold both thread ends and use the single stitch button to take multiple stitches in place or very close together to secure the ends. To do this, hold down the single stitch button and it will take repeated single stitches until you release it.

Set your dial to B1 - what does this mean? The answer's on page 5 of the user guide.

Press the black start/stop button. Watch for the green run light to come on - when you see it, release the button. The machine is now armed and ready to sew but it will not sew until you move the machine. Sew a line of B1 stitches quite slowly. Stop moving the machine, then press the black start/stop button to disarm the machine. watch for the green run light to go out. Now use the single stitch button to do repeated small stitches to tie off your threads.

If you have a thread cutter, use it to cut the threads. (Can't remember which button to press? See user guide page 2) If you don't have a thread cutter, bring your bobbin thread to the top and cut both threads.

Change the dial to B2 - what does this mean?

Again bring the bobbin thread up and take multiple small, single stitches to secure the ends.

Engage the channel lock if you have one that's controlled by the I/S. "Controlled" - that's a clue to finding the right button, or see page 2 of the user guide.

Watch the green run light as you press the start/stop button. When you see it come on, release the button. What does the green run light tell you?

Sew a line of B2 stitches - do not move the machine fast. Stop moving the machine after about 10 stitches but do not press the start/stop button. The green run light is still on so what will happen if you move the machine or even accidentally jog it? Do not move the machine - watch the run light - what happens after 2 seconds? What happens after 6 more seconds?

The fast flashing of the light reminds you that the machine is still armed and ready to sew so keep your fingers away from the needle. The machine will always disarm itself after 8 seconds of non-movement.

Disengage the channel lock but do not tie off the threads. Turn the dial to 6 - what does this mean? Arm the machine - watch for the run light to come on. Move the machine and sew. After a few inches, pause (stop moving the machine) and change the position of the dial to 10 stitches per inch. Move the machine again. What do you notice about the stitches? Why did they change? Sew a little then pause and disarm the machine.

Now set the dial somewhere between 8 and 10 stitches per inch. Will your machine sew 9 stitches per inch? Find out on page 5 of the user guide.

Set your dial to 8 SPI (SPI - what does that stand for?) This time when you arm the machine, hold down the start/stop button until you hear a beep after the run light comes on, then release the button. What does this beep indicate? See user guide page 7.

Move the machine and start sewing. Watch the run light it will flash slowly to remind you that you are in precision quilting mode. Pause but do not disarm. What will happen if you do not move the machine for 8 seconds? If you've forgotten, wait and see.

Move the dial to S. What does this mean? See page 6. Arm the machine and start to sew. Gradually move the machine faster and faster and watch the fail light until you see it flash and hear a beep at the same time. Pause then disarm the machine and tie off the threads (remember? use the single stitch button) Look at your stitches - what was the fail light indicating? See page 6 - "Long stitch Indication"

This flashing light is a good teaching tool and helps you adjust your technique.

Now you're going to sew in constant speed. What is constant speed? It is just as your machine worked before you got the I/S. You'd press the start/stop button and the motor would run at a constant speed.

Where is constant speed on your control dial? See page 4.

Do you remember how many beeps your machine made when you turned on the power? If it made one beep, you will sew in plain old constant speed. If your machine made two beeps you need turn off the power. Move the machine away from your practice piece. Now hold down the black button on the right handle while you turn on the power again. You will hear just one beep. This means that the motion detector feature of constant speed is disabled. Return to the front of your machine.

Set your dial about two marks higher than the 10 towards Max. on the stitches per second side of the dial. Bring your bobbin thread up and secure the ends just as you've done before. Now get ready - as soon as you press the star/stop button, the machine will begin to sew whether it is moving or not just as it did before. Press the button and move your machine straight away. If the speed feels too slow, turn the dial towards Max. If you want to slow down, turn the dial towards 1. You can do this while the machine is running. Stop the machine when you are ready.

Set the dial to 1 at this position the machine will sew one stitch per second regardless of how fast or slow you move the machine. This is called no-drag slow speed - see page 4 for an explanation. Stop the machine and tie off your threads. Move the machine off your practice piece. Turn off the power. Now hold down the start/stop button while you power up. the machine will make two beeps indicating the motion detector feature of constant speed is enabled. What is the motion detector feature? See page 8.

Move the machine back to your practice piece and bring up the bobbin thread and secure the thread ends. Set the dial a little beyond 10 stitches per second. Arm the machine - watch for the run light to come on. Is the machine sewing? Why not, we have the dial set to the constant speed side of the control panel? What will happen when you move the machine? Move it and find out. Remember, you are in constant speed so the stitch length is dependent on how fast or slow you move the machine. Sew a little then pause - what happens? Continue sewing and pausing. Alter the speed of the motor by using the dial. If you have it set closer to Max., the machine will take a couple of stitches after you pause.

Disarm the machine. Move the dial to 8 SPI (on the regulated stitching side). Press the white down button. What happened? Press it again - what happened? This selects needle down or up. Put the needle down again. Now arm the machine - remember, watch for the run light. Don't move the machine. What happened when the machine became armed? Move the machine and sew a little then pause. Notice that although you have needle down selected, the needle stays up when you pause. sew again then pause and disarm the machine. What happened? The needle only goes down, if you have it selected, when you disarm the machine not when you pause.

When you select needle down in either regulated or constant speed, you need to wait for the needle to lift out of the fabric before moving off. When to use needle down will be covered later.

Press the down button to lift the needle up. Take a single stitch. Select needle down again. Now try to take a single stitch - what happened? Why did the machine beep? See page 3 "Single Stitch" Tie off your threads.

Move the dial so it is pointing between S and 1 stitch per second. Arm the machine - what happened? Don't worry, it's not broken. the beep tells you that the dial is set in a dead spot where it does not know what to do - constant speed or regulated stitching? You simply need to move the dial one way or the other according to what you want to do.

Get into the habit of glancing at your control panel every time you arm the machine to make sure the dial is set where you want it. This is especially important if you move from the front to the back of the machine, or vice versa, to continue quilting.

Move the machine away from the practice piece. Press the laser button. Go to the back of your machine and make the dot of light bigger then smaller. Adjust it to suit you. (Uh oh, don't remember how? Turn the end of the light.) Now increase the brightness. You need a small screwdriver. Look for the white screw just above where the laser plugs into the machine. Turn the screw to increase or decrease the intensity of the light. It should be set so that it is just bright enough for you to see.

Finally, some features you cannot induce.

If you are quilting and the machine cannot get the needle through the fabric, it will give four extra pushes to the needle. If the needle still will not go through, the fail light will come on and a beep will sound continuously. Don't panic - it's not broken. See page 9. The machine has detected that it cannot sew and you need to find out why. Disarm the machine. If you know that the problem is just a thick seam, turn the handwheel by hand to raise the needle enough to move the machine fractionally away from the seam and start to quilt again. If, however, a thick seam is not the cause, disarm the machine and then turn off the power. Something has caused a jam so turn the handwheel by hand to lift the needle, cut the threads and move your machine away from the quilt to find the cause.

If you hear 4 beeps at power up and the fail light flashes, you will need to check the adjustment settings, something has caused the I/S to lose the ones customized to your machine. It will have returned to its default settings. This is explained on page 9 and 10 "Setup Data Safety"

And now some questions to help you remember the features of the IntelliStitch. If you can't remember the answers, look in your user guide.

1. When you turn on the power to the machine, what do the beeps mean? One beep? Two beeps? How can you change this? What does the machine always do at power up?

2. How do you arm the machine?

3. How do you take a single stitch? How do you take repeated single stitches?

4.What does SPI mean? What are B1 and B2? What is S?

5. How do you get into precision quilting mode? How do you know you are in precision quilting mode when you are sewing?

6. What is constant speed? Where do you set the dial to sew in constant speed?

7. What is the motion detector feature of constant speed? What indicates that it is enabled? How do you disable it?

8. How do you start with the needle down? What happens when you arm the machine with the needle down?

9. What does a flashing red light accompanied by a beep mean when you are sewing?

10. When you pause, what happens after 8 seconds of no movement?