Sistergoldenhair

Ok hope this isn't a dumb thing to ask. lol But hey, Im learning. I have been seeing things about free motion quilting on machines. I guess I had always thought I would have to buy another machine to do machine quilting. BUT I got to looking more closely to my embroidery machine manual and by golly I can quilt with it. I just need to buy a special quilting foot. I have never machine quilted before and was wondering how hard it is to learn. And is there any tips anyone had to get me started. Well I guess Im jumping the gun cause I need to buy the foot they are like 45 dollars on the brother website. But when I get it how hard will it be to quilt a large quilt on it or is it meant to do small projects?

pdcakm

welcome to the world of quilting your quilt. that said i am an amateur at fmq myself. there are two "quilting" feet that you will need. one is for free motion and the other is for straight line and stitch in the ditch. be sure which one you are getting. eventually you will need both.

beyond that i would recommend you search here on qb for tutorials on fmq. also check youtube and other internet sites. there are a lot of them with video that will be very helpful. brother probably has something on their site as well.

good luck and remember that it takes practice, practice, practice. so, don't become discouraged if you are not perfect right out of the box.

good luck.

Sadiemae

Depending on what machine you have, sometimes the foot comes with your machine. My brother has the foot. As for practice, I would practice on small quilt sandwiches before I started on a quilt. Day Style Designs is on day 285 of her project to design a years worth of free motion quilting designs. She also has many tips on free motion quilting.
http://www.daystyledesigns.com/365project.htm

JoyVoltenburg

I started quilting my tops with the 1st top I made. I used a walking foot and sewed straight/diagonal lines 1/4" on either side of a seam. I eventually graduated to using a free motion foot (or a darning foot) and started doing stippling and free motion leaves and feathers. The 1st quilt I made was a queen-sized quilt. I call that my pucker quilt - since it was my first quilt I had lots of errors in seam allowances and ended up with puckers on top and bottom. I still use it (under the top cover on my bed). While you can do large quilts, it can become difficult to manage a large bunch of quilt on your sewing machine. But, by all means - GO FOR IT! I finally purchased a mid-arm and frame last March, but some of the lessons I learned quilting on my domestic sewing machine were invaluable.

thepolyparrot

Your Brother most likely takes a generic low shank attachment - if so, my favorite darning/free-motion foot costs $3.

It takes practice - a LOT of practice, sometimes. Not many people get up on water skis the first time they try, either. Don't give up.

Get a Dry Erase board or a scribble pad and draw/doodle a design over and over until you can draw it upside down or sideways without even thinking about it. Practice filling up the whole space with that design. When you don't even have to think about where you're going to go next, put a practice sandwich on your machine and draw with the sewing machine. If it helps, draw the design on your practice sandwich with a water-erasable marker first.

It's so much fun - jump in and go for it! :) And don't give up if it feels too difficult. The first quilts I made, my jaw would clench, my shoulders tensed up, my arms ached, I sweated and I would even hold my breath. Breathing is better. ;)

Sistergoldenhair

pdcakm, thanks, I seen the two different quilt feet but did't know they did different things. That's good to know, I will have to order both of them. I have a brother SE350 embroidery machine. I bought it last year. I love it. I have done alot of embroidery on it. I hadn't used it for anything more cause I have a wonderful singer sewing machine I use for everything else I sew. Thinking I may start using my little embroidery gal for more things now.

Sadie, good idea to try small projects first. I have to remember to pace myself. I want to just jump in and do something really neat. I am not afraid to try new things tho so that is good. I make mistakes and learn from them that way. I am really interested in learning all I can about quilting. I have dabbled with baby quilts and lap blankets thru the years. I have always had quilted everything. Which is prolly why I never attempted anything bigger. It takes alot of time and my hand cramps after awhile. So machine quilting will be awesome when I learn how to do it. I will check out the tutorials.
Thanks

OKLAHOMA PEACH

Brother takes a generic foot, mine cost $9.00 at local sewing machine repair shop. Need to know how far rod is from plate and if slanted or not.

Sistergoldenhair

thepolyparrot, where do you find those $3 feet? The ones on the brother site are quite pricey.

I am going to start with my machine I have, then if things go well maybe I can look into buying a new machine next year. My husband will prolly kill me if I bought another machine this year. Since my embroidery one was so expensive. But if I show him what I learn from everyone this year maybe he will let me get it next year. \
lol I am so giddy, I want to get started right away. But Im finishing a baby quilt for my daughters friend. When it is done Im going to try making a paper piece top and use my machine to quilt it.
I LOVE SEWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sistergoldenhair

So glad I asked about this. I am going to have to take a drive to town and check out the diff. quilt shops in the area.

feline fanatic

Hi Sister golden hair. Welcome to the board. You may also wish to see if your local library has Harriett Hargrave's book "Heirloom Machine quilting" or a book by Diane Gaudynski titled "Guide to Machine Quilting". Both books offer tons of great tips and ideas for FMQ including input on types of thread, needles, easy practice things to do to start, how to pin baste your sandwich together and loads more. I learned a lot from both and bought both used on Amazon for really cheap. I referred to them a lot.