Well I'm no expert, but from what I've read and heard, tension is always a balancing act! And it can vary depending on which thread you have top and bottom and which wadding you're using. I took a tip from a far more experienced friend and when I got my new machine, made practice sandwiches using diiferent waddings and experimented with the top tension with each combination of threads I plan to use (Masterpiece, King Tut, Aurifil and Bottom Line) then made notes in a little notebook as to the best settings for every combination. Requires a little investment of time but worth it IMHO - at least it will avoid (hopefully!) the headache of having to unpick or being unhappy with an actual project. On another note, is there a lower tension bobbin case available for your machine, specifically for FMQ? I got one for my Janome and can really see the difference when experimenting with that and the regular case.