I just cant get it!!!!
#52
Super Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 3,474
dont put so much pressure on trying to learn relax relax relax, just kinda get in the free flowing mood and practice, i found it helps to also get one of those dry eraser boards and marker and sometimes when i am sitting around i will doodle on it , start drawing continues lines as if you were FMQ
#53
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Small town south of Ottawa, Ontario
Posts: 1,692
I have gained a lot of confidence stitching feathers and more from Patsy Thompson videos. Her website is http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/ She is very good-if I can do it, anyone can. You can see portions of her teaching on youtube.
Have fun!
Have fun!
#54
I am taking a class from Craftsy. Even though I've done quite a bit of FMQ, I am learning all sorts of little tricks to help with tension, thread choice, hand placement, etc. Good Luck to you. Not all practice is perfect. Most of mine was downright ugly. Because it is "free motion" it will never be perfectly uniform, but the over-all look is great. Plus, it will have a part of your heart stitched into it because you have invested your time and talent.
#57
I feel your pain! Ive had a Voyager Long Arm for about2 years now and I still suck!I keep getting good comments but in my opinion I dont like what the end result looks like. So I am steadfastly plugging away in hopes that the "quilting fairy" will somehow bestow some good experience on my hands!
#59
Super Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: IN
Posts: 1,807
I just practiced some FMQ the other day and I'm with you. There are some incredibly talented machine quilters out there, but I'm not one of them....even with practice I'm not sure I'll ever have a machine masterpiece because I'm really a hand quilter....albeit slow, it works for me.
Since slow as a snail works for my hand quilting, I thought slowing my machine down a bit might make my stitches look a tad more acceptable....and it did! To my surprise, slowing down made a huge difference. idk about your machine, but I have a range switch that controls my speed {since I'm pedal to the metal super fast most of the time, it was set on the highest speed} so I switched it up to a turtle's pace....seriously, it's turtle & the hare icons on there!! Massive improvement. I may get this yet & I'm sure you will too. Hang in there!! Practice a bit every week & you'll be there in no time.
Since slow as a snail works for my hand quilting, I thought slowing my machine down a bit might make my stitches look a tad more acceptable....and it did! To my surprise, slowing down made a huge difference. idk about your machine, but I have a range switch that controls my speed {since I'm pedal to the metal super fast most of the time, it was set on the highest speed} so I switched it up to a turtle's pace....seriously, it's turtle & the hare icons on there!! Massive improvement. I may get this yet & I'm sure you will too. Hang in there!! Practice a bit every week & you'll be there in no time.
#60
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: LaVista Nebraska
Posts: 170
You can sure tell from all the comments on this thread that we are all struggling to get this motion from our head to our hands/machine!! I took a class and the one thing that stood out for me the most was to keep my hand and foot speed consistent. Sometimes my hands move the fabric too fast and as I 'forget to breathe', my foot gets heavier on the control. Hopefully it will all come in time. Next question: where on earth do we find the time to do all this practicing???
And thanks for the links suggested in this thread. Good luck to all of us.
And thanks for the links suggested in this thread. Good luck to all of us.
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sunnyhope
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09-16-2009 09:07 AM