Doing free motion quilting on a vintage Bernina 830?
 

Doing free motion quilting on a vintage Bernina 830?
The stipling looks great but now I am trying to free motion quilt cursive writing. On the front it looks nice but the back looks messy. It is like wrestling an alligator. Is there away to make it go more supple? What settings should I use?

I FMQ on my vintage 1970's Bernina 830 Record exclusively.

To begin with, make sure that your bobbin case is threaded and seated properly. When mine is seated incorrectly, I have tension problems.

You will want to make sure that you have plenty of table space all around your machine, it is best if it is mounted in a cabinet so that the bed of the machine is level with the table surface, so that your quilt can slide around easily with no drag. I also use Machingers quilting gloves.

Drop your feed dogs (little knob at the bottom on the front of the machine) and be sure to use a darning foot (the one I use is #285). Use a new Schmetz univeral 80/12 needle, and good quality cotton thread (I use Presencia 50 weight).

I have all of the knobs on the front of the machine set at 0, and the levers on top set at 0 zigzag/1-20.

You will want to make rather small stitches, if you move the quilt under the needle too fast, you will have tension problems underneath.

I hope this helps!
Cindy

Thank you for your reply Cindy. I will give her a whirl again this afternoon.

Wohoo Cindy! Thank you very much. I am up and running again.

I have one, too, and I agree with everything Cindy typed, but want to say that recently I did some quilting for the first time in several months, and I forgot to adjust the stitch length to zero. It seemed to make no difference, or possible turned out a little better than I expected, considering I was out of practice. I'd be interested to know what difference the stitch length would make anyway when the feed dogs are down. However the manual does say to turn it to zero, as I recall. I'm away from home at the moment, so can't double check.

I love FMQ on my Bernina Record mid 70s machine. She doesn't like Isacord thread though! DH sanded off the front of her darning foot so I can see where I am going... (similar to Leah Day's suggetions). :)