1st FMQ Block
 

Title isn't completely true. I used this block once to try random FMQ, which was a total disaster. I plucked all the thread off for use in the future.

Today was the future for this block. One problem was i didn't map out the two circles, so they aren't centered. So I had to place the eight ovals off center also.

I tried setting my machine to zero, but my machine cannot be set that way. So I set it to .8. Then I adjusted the stitch speed to where I thought regular movement would get a fair stitch length when I mashed the pedal. Still need some adjustment on that.

I especially need to practise my curves, as I had some fairly jagged curves on the ovals. I seem to do better with bigger curves, but the little ones give me problems.

Overall, I think I will eventually get the hang of FMQing. It is just going to take time. I think my first big project will just have long wavy lines across it. I'll need to practise on my tiny details for some time before daring to put it on something I took so very long to piece together.

Anyway, here's the picture for you judgement.

Hi Caley, FMQ does take time and practice, as you said, but you can't get practice til you get started, so good for you! You might find it easier to begin with a meander stitch. That gives you lots of practice doing curves, and after a while it becomes second nature. From there it would be a natural progression to move into more complex patterns. You've done well to dive right in. Keep it up!

good for you! yes, practice will make a huge leap in ability. FYI--without using a ruler, circles are pretty hard to get very circular--I'd suggest maybe doing curves from "point" to "point of blocks. And smaller curves are much easier to keep even and steady than larger ones.

I found objects at in my house so that I could place them atop the quilt block, and use a heat erasable pen to mark the lines.

I seem to do better with the long slow curves than the small tight curves. I guess that's backwards.

As for freestyle squiggly curves, that is what I mentioned earlier as pure disaster. It's those tight little curves I cannot control

That looks pretty good for a beginner. By picking a quilting pattern that all the parts were the same, any small inconsistencies show up much clearly. That's why I like river type patterns, flowers and unique stars, trees and such. And I will NEVER be good at free hand work. In fact, I have a problem following a pantograph on a long arm. You are already ahead of me.

Not that bad. practice makes perfect, well better. i made a rag quilt and did large X's in each and then with my walking foot on, i put needle down in the center of the X's and turned the blocks slowly as i stitched going around and around about three times. looked great and each block was done! Love that word!
Keep on going. practice with paper too. It will get better.

Haven't done any more FMQing. I need to make some more practise squares. Also need to redo the surface my quilt (blocks) are
supposedly gliding on. I got a couple of those plastic snow slide sheets, but made the mistake of cutting a square opening for the metal plate atop the machine where the needle drops and the feed dogs reside. That's snagging things occasionally.

If I can get a surface that isn't fighting the motion I'm trying to make, then maybe things will improve a little.

https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png You are off and running with your free-motion quilting...congrats!

I liked practicing on a Panel. You can outline the shapes in the panel or do an all over design, like loops (cursive L).
Having a larger practice piece helped me learn to move the quilt sandwich and get use to the moving the fabric to the speed of the needle going up and down. Also, put on music or podcast you like as you practice as it may help you relax. Have fun!

Since I don't like making lots of threads about the same subject, I will continue here with my 2nd FMQ block. I again drew a pattern on the quilt top with heat erasable ink. The pattern is a continuous eight point star, which I drew to the edge seam. Then I drew a second smaller star within the big star. That's why I call this a star in a star in a star.

Actually I don't think this is a free motion quilting. I used a walking foot, as it seems my quilt top wasn't thin enough for the foot to allow the sandwich to slide under at several seam intersections. This quilt block was one of my very first. The seams are bulky, and I cut away the 1/4 inch allowance around the block to make it the correct dimension. Didn't know what I was doing at the time. Guess that's why it is being used to experiment with quilting.

I'm still occasionally having a seam flip on me, without my knowing. But I am getting better, slooooowly.

Now I have to prepare another of my early experimental blocks to try another pattern. Hopefully my seams are flatter, and I can actually use the darning foot for actual FMQing.

Congratulation on this first attempt at FMQ. It takes time and practice. You started with something difficult and did a great job. A meandering stitch may be easier to manage. Also you may want to try stencil along the way. Great designs are available and easy to transfer and follow.

Good job!
I find with curves I do better if I use my whole upper body a bit rather than just trying to do it from my hands/elbows, but may be just me. Give it a try, though. I would suggest that if you are going to work on circles you try smaller ones, at first. Big circles are hard to get round and can be frustrating.
FMQ takes a while, but it comes with practice. Some instructors say to pic one motif and practice it until you can do it in your sleep and then move on. That was my approach and it has worked out OK. I chose Paisley's and I would do an entire fat quarter practice piece worth of paisleys at a time. I would draw them, too. (I quilt a lot better than I draw.)
Keep going and posting your practice stuff.
Watson

Lots of good advice!
Your blocks are so pretty...especially like the first one. Good for you for keeping at it! Keep these practices as a reminder as how far you have come. As to flipping seams, I like to lightly spritz with water and press with a dry iron, place a pressing block
(aka clapper) on top of the seam and let it cool. I like a wool mat underneath as well.

I'm like Barb in LA...still have hard time with the pantos on my LA, but I have found them to be very forgiving when you look at the finished project.

CaleyH, I enjoy seeing your pictures. I am brand new, really brand new to FMQ myself. It's exciting to learn something new that has the potential to be beautiful, if I practice enough. For my very first attempts I didn't even use practice blocks - I just used scrap material with some batting. I tried lots of different stitches - meander, loops, circles, feathers - I definitely developed favorites quickly. I eventually moved on to practice blocks. Then during the pandemic I just sewed some plain blocks together into a twin sized quilt and made each block a different stitch (repeating about 6 or 7 different stitches). It's not my favorite quilt, but it was good practice!

Here's a pic of my very first attempts

Attachment 630433

Have fun!

BTW, I found circles the most frustrating, and really haven't done them at all since my initial attempts.

Amethyst, Welcome to quilting. As I have mentioned before, I am about six months or so into my own adventure into quilting. I've always found photos are helpful. I'm so happy we have the internet, and so many people who share their experiences through writing or photos. I try to do the same with whatever I happen to be doing

Your quilting is wonderful. You must have a steadier hand than I do. Your details are very well proportioned.

I've found that if I try to just move the quilt to try making some design, I just don't seem to be able to control things. I think it is much like my inability to transfer the music in my head to a keyboard, or to my Zither or Hammered Dulcimer. I just cannot get what's in my head to my hands. So I draw what I want on the quilt top, then I can easily move the quilt along those lines to do my quilting.

I'm going to try doing some wavy lines on my next block. Will have to cut a template so that I can trace those lines. I've plenty of fairly thick plastic I have left over from my bathroom tub surround renovation. I am using that to create my templates.

This is #3 for Quilting. This is called wavy lines. It is my first true attempt at using a darning foot, doing actual FMQing. I did draw the wavy lines, but as this was the real first try at controlling not only the foot pedal, but trying to keep a steady movement of the fabric, it isn't a pretty curve. They are somewhat jagged as I wandered off of my lines. And I didn't space the curved lines properly.

Overall, I guess it's fair for a first true FMQing try

I used a reddish thread, front and back because the majority of the colour is in the reddish range on either side. It shows well enough for you who wish to critique my attempt.

Not a critique. An observation - FMQ takes a lot of practice. I don’t know of anyone who got it right on their first or second try. You might try some practice pieces that are not real blocks and just cruise around in all directions and get used to it with no pressure except to practice.

This is a great suggestion. When I was practicing I used pieces of felt. I also think that if you doodle the motif that you want to stitch out it will help you develop muscle memory. I use any flyers, newspapers and a sharpie and doodle designs when I’m stuck on the phone with my chatty sister. I really does help when you go todo the motif with your machine.

I've a lot of Muslin. Don't know why I purchased so much, but I guess I could use that, for a front and back. Just don't know what I can use for the middle. Or does it matter if I have a middle when practising?

you do need a middle. That will give you the best practice opportunity. You can sew batting scraps together. Or devote a square of batting and then put new muslin on top when you fill up the first one. Remember - it’s for practice. You can be free with trying because no one will see it but you. Your machine may not like to go in a certain direction. You will be better able to figure it all out and not have any pressure. Many of us who do FMQ warm up on a practice square before we get to the quilt.

This is exactly the advice I was looking for! I'm waiting for the arrival of my darning foot. I have several practice sandwiches ready to go and I have a scrap quilt ready before I tackle the baby quilt that started my desire to learn FMQ. The baby isn't due for several months, so I have time to learn!!

Tried FMA once in a class but it looked too terrible so I am using rulers to guide my "FMQ". I am focussing on the speed and the stitch length. I made 80 flannel blocks using different rulers. These two utility quilts will be used on our deck and by the fireplace. I am feeling like it will soon be time yo try a meandering stitch. The encouraging words in this thread are helping me to take the plunge. Of course I will practice on scraps first, but I usually need a purpose to stick to it.

I've not done a lot of anything lately, other than cutting all the needed pieces for my next quilt top.

I do volunteer work up at the local Observatory and Nature Center. My last two years has been creating a lower parking lot, and I have about two more weeks of work. The lot is about 150 feet by 60 feet, and I had to do it all by hand, as the foundation doesn't have a lot of money. One reason why they depend on volunteers and donations.

I'm basically the unofficial groundskeeper for the 15 acres they own. I pretty much just work in about a 3 acre area where the observatory is, which seems to be the biggest attraction when it is open. Right now our campus is closed due to the COVID pandemic, and the fact most of our board members, and volunteers are over 65 years of age. Me, approaching 71, and can still run rings around the younger people. :-)

Anyway, I will make a bunch of things about the size of a table runner to practise my FMQing, but I believe I will be doing like pbraun, using rulers and templates to keep my patterns consistent.. I'm also making some plastic patterns I will use to trace, with a a pen that I can erase with an iron. I seem to be fairly good at following the lines I draw. I just have to do a lot of starting and stopping as I go along, so I can get around curves a bit more accurately.

I thought I would pass on what I discovered . This isn't about free motion quilting. It's about quilting with templates.

As most of you know, plexiglass (acrylic) is very slippery, and needs something on the bottom to give it some grip. I tried Omnigrip on the template set I purchased for template quilting, but it just didn't have the grip on a three layer quilt. Does fine when used on rulers when you are cutting thin fabric.

I looked around the internet for something else, but just wasn't satisfied with what was offered. So I thought that maybe the 1/2 inch square hook portion of Velcro might work. I have lots of these little 1/2 inch squares of hook that I used for my astronomy needs. They are about 1/16 inch thick, and have a sticky side. I cut these little squares in four 1/4 inch squares, and applied them to one of my templates on all four corners.

I then placed the template on the quilt sandwich, and moved it around. The hook grips the fabric very well without any slipping, and doesn't harm the fabric. I ended up adding eight 1/4 inch square hooks to each of my templates, and am very happy with how they work.

These hook squares aren't any thicker than what came with one of the templates, which is a strip of rubbery something. Looks like a rubbery substance was applied to fabric, and the other side given some glue.

Just thought I would provide an alternative to all those expensive sheets of grippers that sometimes don't even work

I've been working with my new Baby Lock Jazz 2, trying to do both free motion quilting and template quilting.

After each little bit of work, I would remove the quilt sandwich and look at the back, only to find top thread in the back. This happened every time, and I finally realized it was only happening on the curves. I had kept adjusting the tension to remove the problem, but never could get rid of all of those bottom problems.

I finally browsed around the internet to see what was happening. I discovered that what is happening is called "lashing", which happens when you go around curves too quickly. Solution according to the writer is to slow down on the curves.

Since I don't have a speed adjustment for my machine, I can't just mash the pedal all the way to keep a constant speed, and thusly, only have to concentrate on how fast I move the fabric. This is going to take a lot of practise.

If I can't do two things with my hands like when I have tried to play a musical instrument, I will be stuck with straight line quilting. I've never been able to coordinate my two hands to do two different things at the same time. Had this problem my whole life, other than I finally learned how to touch type, so maybe there is hope if I persist long enough.

free motion quilting does take a lot and I mean a lot of practice. As long as you accept that and be patient you will end up improving with all that practice. It doesn’t always depend on the machine. I learned on a dinky mechanical Brother and it did a nice job. The problem in the beginning was me.

I totally agree with Alyce.
Be nice to yourself.
Do you drive? It's very similar to driving your car.....slow down a bit for the curves, and practice, practice, practice.

Today was a disaster. It wasn't so much me, as the BL Jazz 2 didn't want to keep from breaking the spool thread. No matter how carefully I threaded the upper thread, it would snag, and break.

On top of that, no matter how well I adjust the tension, I still cannot eliminate the eyelashing, even when I go slow. Yesterday I thought things were solved, then both of these things cropped up.

I've put the Baby Lock on the shelf, and installed my Singer into the same position that the BL had resided in. For now, I am just going to be satisfied with straight line quilting. I will map out my line positions, then use the walking foot to do the quilting.

I actually had better luck with FMQing with my Singer, even though I couldn't dial down the stitch length to zero. The problem that made me purchase the BL was the throat space. Guess I will just be happy with the Singer until I can solve the problems with the BL, if I ever do.

Whenever we come out of our COVID pandemic, maybe I can to down to Calimesa, where they sell BL's and ask for some help, even if I have to pay for it.

Bummer!
I wonder if your Jazz just doesn't like that particular thread. Some machines are picky that way....

I wonder if I should quilt with polyester thread instead of cotton. Might try that when I finish this table runner I wanted to practise quilting on. Of course, it is just going to get straight lines now. Everything is set up for it. I just have to get the courage to see if this way will work, or if it is the gremlins causing me a headache.

I've been puzzling about why my BabyLock Jazz 2 isn't working properly. And I've discovered that it was my upper threading.

The machine is not user friendly when it comes to to that task. Why? The user manual shows the arm that raises and lowers as the needle goes up and down is exposed above the housing. No matter how I turn the dial that raises and lowers the needle, that arm doesn't raise above the housing, but is instead just below the housing. When threading the machine, you have to drop the thread down into a slot about 3/4 inch below the housing. Then you have to raise the thread up that slot into a round notch where the thread will reside.

Apparently, if you do not use two hands to guide the thread so that it catches that slow, it just drops down, and eventually catches on the housing, and breaks

I'm a kind of crazy person when it comes to a puzzle like this. It will bother me, and I don't sleep well until I figure things out. Maybe you could call it the mad scientist syndrome. :-)

Anyway, I will try to just do straight stitching, and some basic wiggle wobbles on some fabric to see how things go when the machine is threaded properly. I think that might also have been the cause of my having to raise the tension to almost maximum, and still have eyelashing when doing curving stitches. Hopefully this solves my problems.

Solved
 

As you remember, I have been trying to figure out why my Baby Jazz 2's tension is not working right. The tension dial goes from zero to nine. I have had my tension set all the way up to past nine, and still got lashing on the bottom. So, something else has to be in play to cause this.

In a video watched about FMQing, it says the feed dogs are down, use a darning foot, and set the stitch length to zero. I did all of this.

The only thing that might be the problem is the stitch length. So I went back to the instruction manual, and read it very carefully again about the setting for darning. It states the stitch length is set between zero and four. The key word is "between", as I discovered when I set it at one. My tension problems went away. Apparently the Baby Lock Jazz 2 doesn't work on the zero setting, but needs to be set as stated in the instructions. I set it at one.

I also tried to locate a device that I could plug into the foot control pedal jack that would allow me to adjust the speed. Seems this machine doesn't have any way to adjust speed, other than to adjust the pressure on the foot pedal, which makes things difficult when you are trying to keep the speed of the quilt in your hands going in a steady motion.

So, I was wondering if there was some way to prevent the foot pedal from depressing completely. It just so happens that putting s small piece of wood the proper widths between the floor and the pedal top, and taping it in place will allow you to stomp on the pedal all the way, and get the machine sewing speed where you want it. Not having to worry about how far do depress the foot pedal makes it a whole lot easier to concentrate on your hand speed and motion

So, I think I finally solved my problems with quilting on my Baby Lock. Hope this helps anyone else that has this machine, or is thinking about getting one.