I freemotion with my Janome(s) and don't have any trouble. That being said, the needle in not made to have tension pulling it forward, or it won't "mesh" with the bobbin properly. I wonder if you're moving the fabric to quickly for the speed of your machine and therefore "pulling" the needle forward a tiny bit. Tension on the needle from side to side doesn't seem to cause skipped stitches as much as tension from behind. There is a video online about this, but for the life of me, I don't remember where :o)