GABBYABBY

Me too. You can never read enough or practice enough.

judymay

I'm working on it but I am having a real hard time moving the material around under the needle. I am using flannel on the back. Could that be the reason it doesn't want to slide? Should I turn it over and put the cotton side on the bottom or woould that not be a good idea?

romanojg

Make sure you put your gloves on; you'd not believe the difference that makes when moving the fabric. If you don't have the quilters gloves you can use the cheap gardening gloves with the rubber dots on the palm and fingers; those will work. Like everyone says; relax.

yayaquilts

FMQing does take practice. Takes practice to establish your own rhythm, speed of your machine, etc. I practice on placemats as they are a great size and then the time to FMQ is on something I can use!! I use Machingers (you can get them at JoAnn's)--they are a must! Also posture is important-relaxing your shoulders and stopping a lot to relax.

I took a class from an award winning FMQer on a domestic machine, Jill Shumacher.

One thing I learned that has been very helpful is FMQ in a small square area, similar to a Fox Trot dance step, moving in a clockwise direction. Don't try to turn your project too much--only turn when you have finished in your small square area.

Keep at it and don't give up! Good luck!

Taino Jan

Practice, practice, practice. I tried to teach myself but got frustrated and would have quit. Luckily, one of my LQS had a class in FMQ and it was the best class I have taken. Of course the teacher made all of the difference. She is very talented and more than willing to share her knowledge. She would be honest in how we were doing yet it did not feel like criticism, rather information. I feel very lucky in meeting her and all the other quilters in my quilt gild like her.

Anyway, her encouragement helped me to continue and each quilt is better than the last.

Relax, have fun and keep us posted on how you are doing.

jillnjo

Yes, having the flannel on the bottem makes it much harder to move around. The problem with turning it over is that you can't follow any specific pattern you might want to make in the blocks or borders on the front! If it is a meandering stitch you could do that, but I never think the bobbin stitch looks as nice as the top stitch. If you could find a way to make the surface slick so it would slide better, that would help. There are supreme sliders you can buy. I had one and didn't think it was worth the money.Others love it. Good luck anyway! Keep practicing- it only gets better!

LivelyLady

If you have sashes, I found that by stitching in the ditch or around blocks first enables me to remove all the pins. This makes the quilt so much lighter and easier to FMQ in the squares.