Originally Posted by quiltsRfun
Originally Posted by grandma pepsi
This is a FMQ question. I was told by a quilting teacher that I MUST have a 'stitch regulator' in order to do free motion quilting. (the teacher also owned a quilt shop that sold sewing machines).
Sounds like she wants to sell you a machine. As others have said, it can be done without a stitch regulator. Find yourself another teacher.
That is EXACTLY what I was thinking.
I do FMQ on my $150 Brother sewing machine without a stitch regulator. It is true that my stitches are not always perfectly even, but more often than not, they're quite passable. lol I'll say here that I've only done two FMQ'd quilts. It takes practice, and there will certainly be imperfections, but it absolutely can be done. I've found the key for ME is to sew full speed ahead and move the quilt at a steady medium pace. This gives ME the best results. When I first did it, I found it easier for me to concentrate if I went at a medium speed on the machine and slow movement with the quilt and as I progressed I noticed my stitches getting longer and longer because I was moving too fast, so I had to speed up the machine.