My name is Dora and I live in Montana and started quilting when I became a grandmother in 1999. I have always sent my quilts out to be quilted since I do not have a long arm machine. But, I want to learn how to do free motion quilting so I can complete a landscape quilt I want to make.

I have been trying to adjust my Brother SE400 so I can learn how to do free motion quilting. It sounds absolutely terrible and I cannot make a rounded corner - everything is very jagged. I've read everything in the manual (about 2 pages) on free motion quilting and cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. I've dropped the feed dogs and attached the embroidery foot and tried several different quilting stitches. Any suggestions will be tremendously appreciated.

Hi and welcome to the board from Iowa. I am sure someone will come along soon who will have great suggestions on how to remedy this (smile).

Hi Dora :) Welcome from Minnesota!

I have never had any luck with FMQ ... my sisters and I went together and bought a long arm so I haven't tried FMQ for quite a while now.

Hi Dora. Welcome from MO. I don't have a answer to your question but I'm sure someone will. They are very helpful on this site.

I don't have that exact machine, but I do have a Brother. When you siad you had tried several different quilting stitches, I'm not sure what you mean. Don't set it on any fancy stitch. Most people do feed dogs down, but a few prefer up. Stitch length is generally set at 0.

You will get tons of ideas here on the board, but another good place is YouTube. Just type in Free Motion Quilting. There are 100's of videos. Leah Day has many helpful one.

Hello, welcome from Oklahoma!!!

Don't FMQ on my little Brother, but I do agree, you leave it set at straight stitch, put the feed dogs down, and set stitch length to 0 on most machines.

Welcome to the board from Southern California!!!

Hello and welcome from the Arkansas Ozarks.
Happy quilting.

Hello Dora, welcome from northern California! I hope someone is able to help you with your question.

Hello Dora!
Welcome from Minnesota!
Looks like you've already gotten your answer to your question. Hope it's working for you now...with a little practice! :)

Hello and welcome from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I google and youtube for tutorials. I am a beginner and practice a lot. Thank God for a good stepfather who just told me tonight he will buy thread and fabric just as long as I make something for the family. He say nothing is perfect without practice and the family would be glad to receive anything made from the heart. So I will let family critique me.

Hi Dora and welcome from Missouri

Hi from Ohio!

Hello, and welcome from Michigan!

Welcome from Michigan.:)

Hi from OH

Welcome from Central California. You will love it here!

Welcome from Louisiana!
Sew glad you found us. :)
You'll love it here.

I am working on my first FMQ quilt on my cs6000i Brother. It seems that when I get jagged corners is when the quilting isn't moving smoothly. Does it feel like the quilt just won't go where you want it to? Definitely check out the you tube videos from Leah Day and Patsy Thompson. They have lots of tips to help.

Hello and Welcome to the board :D:D:D
Make sure you sewing surface is very clean and slick, it will help with the movement of your quilt :D

Hello & Welcome from North Carolina

Hi Dora,
I was looking at the same thing today. The Brother SE400 User Guide said to use an optional free-motion open toe quilting foot "O" when making free-motion quilting. I wonder if that would work better than the embroidery foot. Did you ever get it to work?
Kamala

Hello & Welcome to the board from North Carolina :)

Hi - You may want to double check the foot on your machine if it is noisy. I had the same problem once when I first began working on a Brother LB6800THRD (Similar machine to yours) and discovered that the foot was just slightly out of whack and was causing noise when the needle went up and down. After I adjusted my foot slightly, it worked like a champ.

Good luck with your project!! :)

first you have to lower the feed dogs. my machine does the rest I set it to #4 also. I find you have to have your thread horizontal I use a thread holder on the back of my machine. I would use the finest thread to start with. I would recommend using silk #100 use this also in the bobbin you will be amazed.

Hello from Adrian, MI and welcome

Hi Dora, Welcome to the QB from North Carolina :). Glad you could join us.
Beckie

I know this post is old but just Incase it helps others, I just did free motion quilting on my brother 400se. I lowered my feed dog, removed the foot exposing just the needle, did straight stitch and minimized my stitch length to .2 which is as low as you can go and it worked fine. Key thing also is to use your auto sew at either medium or fast. Going slow you tend to hesitate with your motion, unable to create a flowing motion.

I started quilting using the darning foot. That's the circular foot.. Walking foot goes in straight lines Yes? Darning foot moves where your hands guide it.. I can only handle baby quilt with my machine doesn't take large. More practice is for me..