Having trouble with your tension when FMQ?
#1
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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For those who have had trouble with your tension seeming to be "off" when you are trying to free motion quilt - I just read this in an online quilting newsletter.
If you have problems, do not drop your feeddogs - yes, you read it right! Leave the feed dogs up - then take a large sheet of teflon or plastic and tape it to your machine top, with a hole in it for the needle to go through - and it not only lets you move your quilt easier, your tension will return to where it is when your feeddogs are in place... the tension is released when the feeddogs are down! Seems like a simple fix to me - and it must be or it would not have been in print for tips from a mastered quilter.
If you have problems, do not drop your feeddogs - yes, you read it right! Leave the feed dogs up - then take a large sheet of teflon or plastic and tape it to your machine top, with a hole in it for the needle to go through - and it not only lets you move your quilt easier, your tension will return to where it is when your feeddogs are in place... the tension is released when the feeddogs are down! Seems like a simple fix to me - and it must be or it would not have been in print for tips from a mastered quilter.
#2
Thank you.
Originally Posted by jad1044
For those who have had trouble with your tension seeming to be "off" when you are trying to free motion quilt - I just read this in an online quilting newsletter.
If you have problems, do not drop your feeddogs - yes, you read it right! Leave the feed dogs up - then take a large sheet of teflon or plastic and tape it to your machine top, with a hole in it for the needle to go through - and it not only lets you move your quilt easier, your tension will return to where it is when your feeddogs are in place... the tension is released when the feeddogs are down! Seems like a simple fix to me - and it must be or it would not have been in print for tips from a mastered quilter.
If you have problems, do not drop your feeddogs - yes, you read it right! Leave the feed dogs up - then take a large sheet of teflon or plastic and tape it to your machine top, with a hole in it for the needle to go through - and it not only lets you move your quilt easier, your tension will return to where it is when your feeddogs are in place... the tension is released when the feeddogs are down! Seems like a simple fix to me - and it must be or it would not have been in print for tips from a mastered quilter.
#7
I just practices FMQ for about an hour today and boy am I frustrated...I absolutely "suck" at this, as my kids used to say...it is hard to have even stitches, smooth curves and all the rest...I am now going to try with the feed dogs up...I have heard about this..maybe it is going to be easier...
#8
Originally Posted by Lisa_wanna_b_quilter
I believe Leah Day leaves her dogs up, too.
Until now, I've done my FMQ with the dogs down, but on my last project.....what the.... I tried them with the dogs up.
I like.
Yes my tension was better.
One reminder - set your stitch length to 0 so there is no forward movement with the feed dogs. I didn't even cover them.
Just another reason to try everything and use what works for you I guess.
#9
Originally Posted by tellabella
I just practices FMQ for about an hour today and boy am I frustrated...I absolutely "suck" at this, as my kids used to say...it is hard to have even stitches, smooth curves and all the rest...I am now going to try with the feed dogs up...I have heard about this..maybe it is going to be easier...
Try just doing wavy lines at first. Then try circles.
It's like trying to learn cursive writing again - your handwriting wasn't perfect when you started learning!
Make yourself relax. Breathe. Don't let your shoulders tense up and go up around your ears.
If you're trying stippling as a first project - remember it is one of the harder patterns to learn. Just do loop de loops until you can move the fabric smoothly without tensing up. Then move on to other patterns. Good luck, and stick to it.
#10
Originally Posted by tjradj
It's like trying to learn cursive writing again - your handwriting wasn't perfect when you started learning!
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