I have a Janome 9700. It doesn't FMQ right with the feed dogs down. I use a SUpreme Slider to cover the feed dogs and it solved the majority of my problems. I had thread breakage problems with the feed dogs down and also eyelash problems in the bobbin tension. Depending on the thread I sometimes have to mess with the needle size too. With the feed dogs up the only problems I have are operator error problems. Also check for burrs like someone said earlier. I had that problem too. Definately try different brands of thread too. My old machine refused to sew with Gueterman thread.