Hi and Welcome from NY!

Welcome from Oxford, Michigan.:)

Hi and welcome from the sunny state of Florida!!

Welcome from Kansas

Thank you so much for the warm welcomes. I'm looking forward to learning and maybe even sharing the love of quilting.

Hi MacThayer. Thanks for your response, I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on learning to machine quilt. I think my biggest problem was my first quilt was a queen size bedspread and I quilted it on a Singer Simple without even the benefit of a walking foot. It came out very puckered and the work of trying to maneuver this huge quilt through the small opening on the machine was very stressful. So, I bought a Brother with the quilting attachments and found working with the walking foot didn't make dealing with such a large item any easier. I like the idea of starting smaller and practicing my skills. I definitely have an issue with tension and the bunching of stitches under my work. It's a very sloppy look and since I can't conquer how to prevent it, it's discouraging to spend the time redoing only to have it happen it again. I will be heading to Texas for the winter soon and will pursue the machine quilting with smaller projects, possible table runners. Thanks for the interest, Jackie.

Welcome from NC!

Welcome from Minnesota and happy quilting :)

Jackie,
Working with the walking foot is for straight lines only. Anything else and it won't work. So "stitch in the ditch", grid lines, things like that, will work for the walking foot. Anything more than that, and you're asking for trouble.

If you're going to do 'free motion quilting', you'll need to use your quilting/darning foot. It should have come with your machine, but if not, they're available through Brother. In fact, I have one, unused, and if you want it, you can have it. It's a genuine Brother part for a low shank machine. Just PM me.

You could also use a few things on the link I'm sending. This link is just an easy way to show you what they are. You can probably find them cheaper elsewhere:

http://www.freemotionslider.com/

One is the free motion slider, in whatever size you want. I just have the regular size. If you're free motion quilting (FMQ) it's just so wonderful to drop the feed dogs, put this on your bed -- may have to adjust the opening where the needle goes -- and that quilt just glides where ever you want it to go. Great help when FMQ. Makes it much easier, and helps to solve problems.

Then there's the Magic Genie bobbin inserts. They're made of teflon (I think) and you just drop one in the bottom of your bobbin case. They last forever and work great. I know lots of places carry these. They really help to keep that bobbin thread flowing freely and help to prevent those horrible bobbin thread "nests" on the back of your fabric.

Some people really find the quilting halo to be of great benefit. It helps to hold the fabric sandwich or quilt you're working on, helps to prevent puckers, and gives you more control over moving the fabric around. I found it to be a lot better than just using gloves, because the gloves pulled the fabric in various directions depending on where you had your hands. You may have something like this you could use with the attachments from your new machine. If not, these "halos" come in more than just round shapes. The one I have is a square, and it is a two-parter, with a piece that goes underneath, and then another that fits over it, so the quilting sandwich is really held in place, and it's easy to move it around without disturbing the fabric in the sandwich. I got it at Nancy's Notion's, but have seen them elsewhere as well.

You need to work on adjusting the tension. That's what the bird's nests are telling you. Also, get control of that bobbin thread before you start. I ended up learning to start by putting the needle through once, and then pulling the bobbin thread to the top, and then going along with my stitching. Put that together with fixing the tension, and no more bird's nests!

You can take my hints, but if you keep having problems, post back on this board about the problems you are having, and see what the other say as well. Learning to FMQ is an Art, and is not learned over night. It comes easily to some people. I've had to work at it, but I'm making good progress. It sounds to me as if you can't get past the technical aspects of it, and into enjoying the beauty of it, which is a shame. When you really get there, it's such a wonderful skill, and form of art. Don't give up! The answers are there! Plus read, read, read everything you can on the subject. That's what I've done.

Best of Luck and Warmest Regards,

Hello and welcome to QB, from western Nevada!