QuiltyLisa

I just started practicing and can I say I really stink at this. I am just practicing with stippling and loop-de-loops. Any tips would be greatly appreciative before I scream at myself and the dern machine. Do I have the machine set to slow or fast or in-between?? any special stitch length it should be set at ?. My stitches are either too close or sometimes farther apart and at the start I had thread tangle on the bottom..

Please someone help before I get discouraged.

Lisa

Elly

When you start put the presser foot down and crank the hand wheel to bring the thread up from the bottom.This should take care of the knots.

Feed dogs should be down.

then practice and more practice....

Those gloves with the dots help and music helps keep me keep my hands moving at the same speed.

Happy Quilting!!!

littlehud

Keep practicing. Are you using a darning or quilting foot. They help. Keep the feed dogs down and try to keep the fabric moving at a consistent speed.

kluedesigns

i had DH build a brace to go around my pedal since i don't have a way to control speed other than the pedal.

its one less thing to worry about - i just press down fully on the pedal and i have the same speed all the time and all i need to be concerned with is moving the fabric.

i could never do free motion but i got the Flynn Multi Frame last week. i did my first quilt on it and i meander an entire twin quilt in about 5 hours.

the first 8 inches of the quilt don't look that good but after that i got the hang of it.

i used contrasting thread on the top and the bottom so i could see everything i was doing.

amma

I've heard the experts say practice what you are most familiar with, your name in cursive :D or the alphabet, and move on from there. They also said to practice 20-30 minutes a day, and to expect it to take some time to become consistent. There are many free motion video tutorials out there, maybe watch some of them. If you do not have a high enough speed internet go to the library and watch there if they allow it or at a family or friends house. Buy some fabric and batting for practice and don't look at it as a waste of fabric/batting but an investment in your quilting future! :wink: :D :wink: Please don't give up....hang in there and one day while you are practicing it will all click and fall into place! :D :D :D

MadQuilter

Did you check the instructions that come with your machine. Sometimes dropping the feed dogs is not enough and the lever has to be in a certain position.

I suck at it too and I just bought the stitch regulator to work with my frame. The mentors at the guild suggest that you start small. Work on some blocks - just to play and then migrate to panels. I wish you patience.

pal

Don't practice on a single piece of fabric - make a sandwich of your fabric, batting and backing. I used a solid fabric on the top and a different solid for the backing. Then use one color of thread in the bobbin and a different color thread on the machine. And don't make either color thread the color of your solid fabric. This will allow you to see what you're doing and how your tension is. After that it is just
practice. You'll do fine - just don't give up!

PrettyKitty

Lisa don't be scared! Just little hiccups, you've had some great advice here and I expect you will get more. I tried it for the first time the other week. I found it helpful to practice the stipple pattern with a pen and paper beforehand, kinda gets your head used to what you need to do.

Keep tweaking your machine settings until it works. Then right down that ideal setting so you will always know what to go back to.

Good luck, am sure you'll do fine.

PrettyKitty

Wow! Thats a great idea! Would you mind posting a picture of this brace so we can see how it works?

kluedesigns

here's pics on the brace DH built for my pedal. the wood is 1/2 inch thick on the bottom of the brace and the top of the brace.

this allows my machine to run at half speed (i don't have a speed control button on my machine).

i was having a problem maintaining a constant speed while moving the fabric - i felt like i was patting my head and rubbing my belly.

so he laid down on the floor while i kept the pedal at the speed i liked and he measured that height and then built the brace.