My last post was about mug rug patterns...well, I found some cool material and put some together and thought...I should try FMQing this. So I took my walking foot off...and now what? I can't FMQ with the regular foot on, but when I take it off there is no stability. I have to have a foot of some sort...but what??? I did drop the feed dogs. I tried every foot that came with my machine, but to no avail. Do I need to order something special? Help me, please?

You need a darning foot or a free motion quilting foot.

Did your machine come with a darning foot? These work well for FMQ :D:D:D

Do you have a darning foot?

guess the board is dragging tonight - 3 posts with same advice lol

Did you lower your pressure foot lever? If that is raised it removes any tension the discs provide, creating a snarly mess underneath.

I'm not sure I understand....I lowered the feed dogs...I need to lower or raise the presser foot lever? When I tried to FMQ without a foot I got the snarly mess. I'm a bit confused.

I don't have a darning foot or FMQ foot, so I will hunt for one. I have a Janome and I think there are dealers not too far away. Thanks for this help....just need the above clarified for me. (Ya' know this brain is old....spell things out for me!) :lol:

The needle has an up and a down position. If you leave it up, that is when you get that snarly mess. (voice of experience) LOL! I took a FMQ class on a longarm at my LQS, WE forgot to lower the needle and guess what happened? It took about an hour to get all the loose threads out of the machine. I hate to see what that sample looked like when we got done with it.

First thing is what kind of machine are you sewing on? On Pfaff's there is a middle spot for the lever that lowers and raises your foot. You need to use the middle spot for FMQ. You probably received a darning foot with your machine which is basically the same as the FMQ foot. That is the foot you need to use. Lower your feeddogs and put your upper tension to 0.

If you aren't using a Pfaff....read in your manual how to set your machine up for darning...it's the same process.

Oops just read you have a Janome....and you say you didn't get a darning foot...here is a picture of one for you:

http://content.janome.com/index.cfm/...Foot_Open_Toe_(for_low_shank_top_load_models)

Also here is another site to show you how to use a FMQ foot:

http://content.janome.com/index.cfm/...Quilt_Foot_Set,_Convertible_(High_Shank)

You can scroll down on this page and it tells you how to use the foot.

I am not familiar with Janomes and hope this help you some.

Well, I went a bought a darning foot for the Janome and went to town! Really hard when you go slow, so I learned to speed it up and had a good time. I have a hard time staying away from designs I DON'T want to FMQ, but after two I think I will try some more! Thank you all for your help! Oh, FYI, these are mug rugs I'm doing for our women's give away (themed "coffee" "The Best Part Of Waking Up Is Jesus In Your Life!" LOL!) So we are giving coffee mugs as some of the gifts and I'm making rugs for them.