grammatjr

I took a class with John Flynn a year or two ago. This subject came up. He said that he has had students in class use the Regulator, but found after just a short while, it was much easier to go without it.

My suggestion would be go to WalMart (or right now, to Hancocks), and buy several yards of a cheap material with some large print. Make a quilt sandwhich, and just FMQ along the print. Once you have that down, get some solid color material and do a little FMQ free hand without marking it before.

I know the first few times that I FMQd, the stitches were so tiny or so huge, it was embarassing.

But, with practice, I am beginning to get the hang of it, and I am sure you will too. Good luck.

Marvel

If you cover the teeth of the feed dogs the machine will not bunch up the bottom side. Some machines have a knob to do this. Mine does not. I ruined a lap quilt I had made. But I learned this simple trick and it works. You can use a business card or a piece of reciepe card.

Bluphrog

I'm sure someone else has said this, but it sounds to me like she was trying to sell you a new machine.

I have a stitch regulator on my machine, but I don't use it when doing FMQ. I can turn my machine on and it will sew without using the foot pedal, so I just set my speed where I want it, hit the on/off button, and start moving my fabric. Because the machine speed doesn't change, if I keep moving my fabric at the same speed, my stitches are consistently the same length. When I am ready to stop, I stitch off the top into the batting/backing and hit the on/off button.

Unfortunately, I didn't discover this method before I put out the extra $$$ for the stitch regulator. I could have gotten the next model down without it.

deema

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking.

I do FMQ on my $150 Brother sewing machine without a stitch regulator. It is true that my stitches are not always perfectly even, but more often than not, they're quite passable. lol I'll say here that I've only done two FMQ'd quilts. It takes practice, and there will certainly be imperfections, but it absolutely can be done. I've found the key for ME is to sew full speed ahead and move the quilt at a steady medium pace. This gives ME the best results. When I first did it, I found it easier for me to concentrate if I went at a medium speed on the machine and slow movement with the quilt and as I progressed I noticed my stitches getting longer and longer because I was moving too fast, so I had to speed up the machine.

grammatjr

Oh, I just thought of something I recently "invented"!

I do not have a Regulator, and have wanted one, but cannot afford it, and since I had been told I really didn't need one - I got creative.

I found that if I place the foot pedal of my machine so it is "jammed" against something, I don't need pay attention to it at all, and can just concentrate on my hand movements while FMQing.

I have done it a couple different ways.
1- I put the machine on a table, that had a wall beside the right side of the machine. Then I simply scooted the machine up against the foot pedal, until it went on it's own. Then to start and stop, I used the power switch that controlled the outlet I had plugged the cord into (it was attached to the table).

2-I have a pressing table, underneath the cutting table where I put my machine when I am FMQing. There is a slight gap between the pressing tabel top, and the cutting table bottom. I wedged the foot in there, and it kept going. I could then use the sewing machine off/on switch. One word of caution on this though, you don't want to wear out your machine's switch! But, you could get an extension cord with a switch on it. When I did this way, I put a mark on the foot, so I would know in the future exactly how far to press it under my table, so I will always get a consistant speed, from one time of sewing to the next. I played with it until it was fast enough but not too fast.

AliKat

Funny. Every time I tried using a stitch regulator at the Bernina store the stitches were never even.

I do much better having my own rhythm and using my Pfaff.

ali

Annya

I don't have one either. I either drop my feed dogs or do it with them up. It does take practice but if you go slow and steady you will improve a lot as you go along. The lady just wanted to sell you either a new machine or the part to go with the one you have.

VernaL

I recently took a FMQ class from a well known quilt teacher and she said you do not need a stitch regulator. All you really need is the ability to lower your feed dogs and lots of practice. I have done FMQ on my old 1960's Bernina 830 and also do it on my new Bernina 440 with the regulator. I've found that practice is the most important. All the teachers I have taken classes from say, "Practice!" They are right. (Some of these people sold machines and some were sponsored by machine companies.)

judi wess

You do not need a stitch regulator. What you do need is to learn to relax, practice on some fun thing like a doggy mat or tote bag piece. I got my groove going on some children's fabric for totes for the GDs. I haven't mastered the drawn designs yet, still letting the fabric tell me where to stitch. By the by, variegated thread makes the process fun.

judi wess

You do not need a stitch regulator. What you do need is to learn to relax, practice on some fun thing like a doggy mat or tote bag piece. I got my groove going on some children's fabric for totes for the GDs. I haven't mastered the drawn designs yet, still letting the fabric tell me where to stitch. By the by, variegated thread makes the process fun.