michelleoc

I joined a Skill Builder BOM on Flickr that is amazing. She does two blocks each month and each month there are lessons for different types of FMQ. I agree with what everyone else said...practice, practice, practice. Leah Day has TERRIFIC videos. A couple of things that I have found that help me - I have to be well-rested, so I only attempt FMQ early in the day. Also, I put music on and I sit in a swivel chair and swivel while I'm FMQ'ing. It gets me into a rhythm. Good luck. We'd love to see your progress!

dc989

My first projects were to get a simple cheater panel and to practice straight lines with walking foot, then FMQ on the printed shapes. Some of the baby panels have very simple shapes. After you get some practice in try a more complicated cheater panel for finer machine control. I got one with floral baskets already printed with "sashing" and kept adding more quilting. I still have it and my is it quilted! I used the baby quilts for guild donation quilts.

Krystyna

Get a darning foot, drop feed dogs or not as you find what works best for you ... and go to the Leah Day Free Motion Quilting Project and experiment. Or sign up for one of the Craftsy classes. You'll have sooooo much fun!

MargeD

If you want to learn to quilt your own quilts - take a class, whether it is at a quilt shop, online or anywhere. There are some great teachers out there. I didn't start machine quilting until I took a quilting class and it helped immensely.

Keep Them In Stitches

Classes from my LQS got me started. I am still learning and practicing on my own quilts. I have to remind myself to relax and enjoy.

Keep Them In Stitches

Leah Day has been VERY helpful, too.

quilter2090

Practice first on practice sandwiches. FMQ takes practice to get it right. Think back to how we learned to write. You practiced several times before you actually wrote a sentence, right? The first time you got on a bike, I bet it was hard to balance yourself. So you practiced and practiced until one day, CLICK, you could ride a bike. Many things in life are that way, you simply have to keep trying. Don't be scared! What is there to be scared of? Make some quilt sandwiches and go to it. Check out Leah Day's website, I think it might help. If you let the word CAN'T stop you. you are already stopped. Try it, you might enjoy quilting. Never know if you let the word CAN'T stop you.

MadP

I use a walking foot. I mostly do straight stitching, not necessarily stitch in the ditch but 1/4 etc from the seam, sometimes on both sides. I am now doing circles but I did loosen the pressure foot a little to be able to turn the quilt easier.

Butterflyblue

I did a tabletopper first to get the hang of quilting on my machine, and then a baby quilt. When I wanted to learn free-motion quilting, I did a potholder first, and a small wall hanging next.

I never found a class necessary, but it just depends on how you learn. I learn best by doing, without someone trying to give me advice that I won't listen to anyway. Perhaps I should say, I learn best by making lots of mistakes.

busy fingers

My quilts are my quilts and I do everything from start to finish - they will never win a prize nor will they ever make a show but I put my heart and soul into each of them no matter what size - mug rug to king size quilt.

To my mind the purpose of the quilting is to hold all layers together and you can do this by your own hand or your machine beautifully.

Go for it and enjoy your lovely results.