Harriet Hargraves machine quilting book is full of info for fmq. I took classes from her and her book is invaluable. She specializes in teaching beginners. Amazon has her book. Be sure it is the blue book. More current than the red one.

Jan Tx, thank you for sharing your FMQ journey so much of it brought back sore memories:) A tip that I would add that I found in Charlotte Frable's "Quilt as Desired" book is to use topstitch Needles, they cut down considerably on thread breaking and fraying, in fact she says that a lot of quilters like them so much that they use them all the time, I do now.

What a wonderful post. I have a Janome 6500 and I'll try all of them. It looks like your tension is at 6 and the other settings are 3.5 and 0?

I think I read in a QB newsletter that if you practice a design everyday for 3 weeks, you'll have it down pretty good. That's what I've been doing and can see a big difference. I finished my second quilt top and want to do the whole thing myself, but is applique with Large open spaces- I want to do bubbles there since the quilt is whimsical. It's much easier to do a confined space instead of this, but it's the look I want and just don't want to mess it up too bad. I'm determined not to work on another one until I get confident enough to tackle it! Practice practice and a lot of reading. I practiced on paper first.

I appreciate the original poster who suggested a step by step approach to solving her 'problems'. FMQ is a challenge because most machines are really designed for straight stitching and have lots of stitch variations. When we FMQ we have to over ride the machine's design. We see lovely machine quilting on a DSM. Patience is rewarded in the learning process. I took Harriet Hargrave's class and have her books. They are very well done. I've also incorporated information from lots of others to find my own path-and I'm willing to try just about anything any of you suggest. I do think that the right needles (topstitch) and the right size thread are essential.

Another Janome 6600 owner (and lover) here. I also have the blue dot bobbin case and clear foot--and they make a huge difference, IMO. I always set the machine to Mode 2; foot pressure 1. For me, machingers gloves are a must.

I think your practice and study has paid off. Thanks for all your hard work collecting this valuable info.
peace

Okay, ladies. Help me out. I have the Janome 12000MC and have the bobbin with the yellow dot. Then there's the regular bobbin without a dot a'tall. What on earth are the blue dots and red dots? What are they supposed to do?
I am also wanting to use the quilting motifs that are built into this machine. Feathers, hearts, other cool stuff. Is anyone out there doing any of this type of machine quilting?
Thanks to everyone who talks a lot on this board. I've learned sooo much!!
Pat

Thank you for your invaluable information and pics. You sure do great FMQ. Terrific!

JanTX - your advice has been great!

It can also apply to trying to get the tensions right on a serger - one small change at a time!