FMQ foot modification- any feedback on this Leah Day tip?
 

Some of you have already been very kind in advising me about my ongoing FMQ woes.

My continuing search for a solution brought me to a clip from Leah Day. I can't find it again but this is another clip from Leah with the same technique, without showing the machine working: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APD6s7PwoqU

Oh! Found it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwbNPgnP8r4

Is this the Holy Grail?!!!! Stopping the foot from hopping and setting the height with a rubber band?

Any voices of experience much appreciated. Please do share.....

thanks so much for the link. very helpful.

I'm definitely not an expert but his purely optionial. I'm lucky because my machine has two ways to FMQ; with one foot like this one it does hop up and down and the other one doesn't; it hovers over the fabric. When it hops up and down it'll actually be holding the fabric down during the stitch; the other one does not. The viking rep says this is better than using the floating one. I've had others who prefer the floating on to the hopping one (not sure the accuate name) but it's built into my machine so I don't have to worry what its called; I just click on the icon and it shows me the two options and I chose one and make sure the correct foot is installed.

I had that plastic foot and my hubby cut it because I couldn't see what I was doing, used it for a long time til I found a metal one that was open toe...so much better! I have one that doesn't hop too but haven't tried it yet. Kinda cool tho what you can do with a rubber band!

When I quilt buy domestic machine I use a foot with Leah's modifications. I find it much easier to see what I'm doing.

I too have modified my FMQ foot following Leah's instruction, I also FMQ with the feed dogs up and the stitch length to O, I find I have been control and I am not distracted by the hopping foot, but I still have a long way to go with my FMQ. But I do practise

Yep gonna have to try that someday.

Some of the machines have feet with the toe already cut out.

If you have a Janome, get their special packaged quilting feet. It comes with one part that you attach onto the machine, and three interchangeable feet. I prefer the large plastic one more like a paw than a foot!! :) You can also adjust the height so a quilt slides under it easily. Handy when switching from thinly batted quilts to thick batts.

I have a Viking 875 Quilt and have always had problems w/ fmq and the tension on the underside. It, for no reason I can understand will make a rat's nest on the underside, which I believe is caused by the upper thread. Does your machine ever do this? My dealer/repair shop always tells me, "Oh it jumped out of the tension." But when I look in there after this happens, the thread appears to be sitting in the correct place. Of course, it never does it for them when they test it. I re thread the top and sometimes that fixes it, sometimes not. I'm using Superior thread too, so it's not the thread causing it to happen.

I not only stopped mine from hopping; I also cut the front of it so it would be an open toe foot. It helped me tremendously. With the closed foot, I just couldn't see where I was going. I'm sure many, many people do well the other way, but for me no hopping and open toe was a big part of the answer. Now, I just need about a zillion hours more practice so I can do something other than meander.