Vanna

Hey everyone, I have the brother xr3774 quilting sewing machine, I’ve used just the walking foot on my quilts, but I now want to try the quilting foot, I put the quilting foot on, and started on one block of my quilt, it’s a small one, but my stitching on the top is lose, and the back is a mess of thread, I’ve tried everything I know to do, changing stitch length, thread, tension, everything, please help, I’m just doing circles, please, I really like doing them, but I’m getting frustrated, I’ve put my quilt away for the night, and will try again tomorrow

illinois

Is it threaded correctly? Bobbin and top thread.

cat-on-a-mac

Yes, rethread everything. Try adjusting the height of the foot; it should have a way to move it up and down -- it may not be close enough to the fabric. And relax!

Don't give up -- there's often an "Aha" moment when all of a sudden, FMQ will just start to work for you.

Rhonda K

What type/size needle are you using for quilting? Try a top-stitch or perhaps a microtex needle. What tension setting is set? Check the manual for the settings. I believe the tension setting is changed for FMQ.

pocoellie

I agree with the above, and maybe the machine is threaded correctly, but FMQ takes a LOT of practice, it's taken me over 5 years to be fairly good at meandering, but don't think I'll ever be good enough to do fancier things, like feathers, wreaths, etc. Of course, I could just be a slow learner. LOL

cjsews

Even tho the foot floats you need to lower the pressure foot as you would like regular stitches. This sets the tension on the thread.

Stitchnripper

Indeed, make sure you put the presser foot down and pull up your bobbin thread. I can FMQ on the basic Brother machines, so just make sure you have it threaded correctly, bobbin in correctly. The FMQ part does take practice, but the thread should not knot up. Keep us posted.

mermaid

Stitchnripper has suggested exactly what I was thinking--lower the presser foot and drop the feed dogs or cover them. Your foot should just skim over the quilt--there is an adjustment on the attached FMQ foot.

Stitchnripper

Another thing - if you set your stitch length to zero you won’t need to drop or cover feed dogs. Some machines work better this way on FMQ

Vanna

Thanks everyone, I have the white plate, cover that came with my sewing machine, for the quilting foot, could that be a problem too? I’m going to try again later today