FMQ on an old Singer?
 

I've tried FMQ on my 'newer' Brother sewing machine...not liking it. :(

I have lots of other Singer machines, 301, 401, 221, 319?, 501? :o I lose track......

Anyway, Do you FMQ on an older Singer? If so, What model and why?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Fmq
 

I have done some FMQ on a Singer model 66, with feed dogs removed. The only difficulty was in coordinating between speed and movement, which definitely improves with practice.

I've tried FMQ on my 403 to no avail. Then after researching I found out that the machines with horizontal bobbins don't do as well with FMQ. Something about the motion & # of revolutions of the bobbin to pick up stitches, I think. However, any of the machines with the vertical bobbins are supposed to work quite well for FMQ. I have not yet tried FMQ with my Featherweight, and just recently bought a 15 "clone" & have yet to take it for a FMQ test drive.

I've done FMQ on my 201 in the past, and it was decent. However, I've recently done some on my 15-91, and I was amazed at how nice it was! I had extremely few problems with tension like I've had on other machines (new and old). I'm not great at FMQ, but it was much easier for me on the 15-91. I've seen people say it's because of the bobbin orientation being vertical rather than horizontal. Being in a cabinet helps too. I've used my mother's modern Huskvarna-Viking before, and it scooted all over the place.

I do all my FMQ on my Featherweight. Once you get the practice in to get your stitch length moving with your movement of the quilt, it does a BEAUTIFUL job.

I have also used my 201, which works much the same way, but I find the Featherweight is much less stressful - fewer bobbin thread problems.

Note: I've been using Coats and Clark thread which is VERY linty and a 14 - 16 needle which is pretty big for FMQ. Recently took a class and the teacher convinced me to try Aurifil 30 weight thread and an 11 needle. Boy what a difference in the size of the hole/quality of the quilting with the thinner thread.

Bottom line: the older machines can do anything the newer machines can do; they just need more attachments to do the same thing. In many cases the older machines do a much better job, because they are not as complicated to maintain. Just get the appropriate foot for your machine (walking foot and FMQ/embroidery foot) and go for it!

Good luck.

I teach machine quilting, and I do nearly all of it on my vintage Featherweight. Note that not all darning feet are equal. You may have to try a few before you get one that your machine likes.

My 301 does a wonderful job. I just completed a very large lap quilt - think a wide twin - without one thread or bobbin issue. AnnieRose thread painted the animals and FMQed and STID with any thread that matched without a hitch. I used Isacord, rayon, old C &C - whatever color I needed. I love that I can see better with the slant needle when doing outlining and fill in work.

I agree with Irishrose my 301 is great for FMQ.

Thank you very much for the information about the bobbin issue.
Thanks too for the encouragement to give it a try on different machines.

I've read the same thing about Singer Slants with horizontal bobbins. But then again, I've read posts by 401 and 500 owners who say that they FMQ just fine. I have a 500 and I'm learning to FMQ with it. I'm doing okay. I'm using a darning foot I found at a LQS. It looks like this one.
http://shop.sew-classic.com/Singer-S...-SCF384037.htm

And no offense to QuiltnCowgirl, but she says that her 403 can't FMQ, but she hasn't tried any of the other machines she has either.

Tate