Originally Posted by cutebuns
It is totally personal preference, I would do some practicing before hand, take a couple of practice sandwiches different sizes and see what works the best for you, When using the small machine I prefer using the side of my foot as a guide to how far I am away I am, there is usually different styles of the same foot if you don't like the one that you are using, watch more where you are going to where you have been, and relax, take some deep breaths and relax, the more you relax the smoother you will be, and practice, practice lots,
Cutebuns has some great advice here!
As for the herky jerky - well, that will smooth out after you practice. Trust me, the key is practice, practice, practice, practice, and more practice. :roll:
I tend to find I work better from right to left and from top to bottom. I've seen tutorials from "experts" who do it backwards but everyone seems to have their own preference for which direction to FMQ in. Find which way feels most comfortable for you and that will be the direction you will want to stick with. However, don't get locked into that; meaning you don't want to get stuck if you can't FMQ in that particular direction. It helps to occasionally practice going in different directions, just so you can when you need to. Hope this helps.