I have a Janome 6600 and feel I'm doing a pretty decent job of FMQ. I do not ever use my foot pedal for any of my sewing, including FMQ. I find the right speed for me for what I'm
doing on the sliding knob, and then concentrate on getting my my movement of the fabric smooth and uniform. To me, using a foot pedal when FMQ is like rubbing my tummy and patting my head! Also I always use a Little Genie magic bobbin washer under my bobbin. I do have a blue dot bobbin case but usually forget to use it. I think the magic bobbin washers are the key to my success. I'm falling more in love with my machine every year I use it. (have had it since 2009 I'm pretty sure. I bought the washers on the Leah Day website. Hopefully these two tips will give you some encouragement to keep trying. ;-)
Also after reading other post I have to add that I always use a super slider Teflon mat, and Gutterman or Isacord thread top and bottom.
UOTE=wishfulthinking;6143102]I started free motion quilting on my old Kenmore & just loved it. Did a couple of quilts with feathers & felt like I did a decent job. I just knew that if I had a little more throat space and needle down I'd be a whiz. So, IQUOTEsa Janome 6600 about a year & half ago and love the space, the needle down, etc., but my free motion stitches just aren't that great and I feel like I've tried everything. On my current frustrating project I'm using Superior Bottom Line in both the needle and bobbin. I have the blue dot bobbin case and I'm using a Superior Topstitch 90/14 needle. I can see little dots of bobbin thread on top and get some eyelashing on the back around the curves. And if I'm not seeing bobbin thread on top I'm seeing needle thread on the bottom. No such thing as balanced stitches. It hardly seems to matter where I set the top tension or whether the feed dogs are up or down. And I know to slow down going around those curves. Actually, what has started working best is to leave the machine on Mode 1 with a 3.5 stitch length and drop the feed dogs. The stitches look better that way, but still not perfect. I just feel like I was doing better work when I started out on the Kenmore using Coats & Clark & whatever needle I'd had in my machine for the past six months. All my attempts to improve seem to have set me back....skill wise as well as money!
Thanks for listening![/QUOTE]