cjsews

I was told to lower my speed and put the pedal to the metal. This way your speed is consistent. One said FMQ is like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time. Lowering the speed and stepping on the foot feed all the way eliminates rubbing the tummy. You just have to concentrate on moving your fabric at a consistent speed

Mkotch

So glad you said that! I agree. I have found walking foot quilting to be less stressful. It can result in very interesting quilts.

Murphy224

Agree. Our guild offered a free motion class with the Sulky Company representative and he also stated to lower your speed and press the foot pedal all the way down. It does work as you only have to focus on moving your fabric not how fast your machine is running. Another tip he showed that I found useful was to anchor your arms, hold your fabric with your fingertips and move only your hands in a circle area in the spot you want to work in. Hard to describe but imagine anchoring your elbows to your body and then moving your arms/wrist in a circular motion without moving your elbows. It limits how far you can go before you have to stop and re-adjust. Which has been one of my problems, going too far from the stitch field and loosing control.
It does take practice, been practicing for about 6 years now and still need lots of practice. A good way to practice is to make mug rugs, placemats, smaller projects. A friend told me recently in trying to use up her stash of fat quarters is to cut them into squares, circles or ovals layer two of them together with scrap batting, stitch and turn, then practice free motion, and use as "dividers" between her nesting pans and rarely used (holiday) larger dishes platters etc.

Watson

Another take on the "Pedal to the metal" is to play with your speed and hand movement until you find what is comfortable and gives you the best stitches consistently and then choose that speed, not just a general slow speed. As mentioned above, then you only have to worry about keeping your hand speed up.

Watson

cashs_mom

Read the manual for your machine. My Juki requires different settings than my Bernina does to get the best result.

Jingle

As with everything in life. Some days everything goes right, other days everything seems to go wrong.

I FMQ I love the look and I love doing it.Speed up the machine and move your hands slower. Practice is the answer to conquering anything. FMQ is not any different.

copycat

You will find lots of advice from board members in the post I made below asking about free-motion quilting tips.

For me personally, this is what I do: straight stitch plate, Feed dogs up...stitch length and width are set to Zero, Supreme Slider on the machine bed to allow the quilt to move smoothly across the machine bed. Support the quilt with tables if needed to allow you to move the quilt smoothly. Chair height is important so you can keep your arms at a comfortable position. It helps to make a practice quilt sandwich using the thread, batting and fabric from your quilt. Have fun!

Please Give me your favorite tips for Free-Motion Quilting Success

Onebyone

When you want to practice use one layer of felt. It's inexpensive and works great to practice free motion.

Dolphyngyrl

It's not a machine it's really practicing and finding that sweet spot you can fmq on any machine you can drop feed dogs. I have fmq on a brother, pfaff and bernina with no issues

toverly

There is a sweet spot whether you go fast or slow. If you listen to the sound of the machine, the thunk, thunk, thunk. Move your hands to the sound. Hard to do but it does work with practice.