Doing free motion quilting on a vintage Bernina 830?
 

The stipling looks great but now I am trying to free motion quilt cursive writing. On the front it looks nice but the back looks messy. It is like wrestling an alligator. Is there away to make it go more supple? What settings should I use?

Hi Anna,
The feed dogs should be down, a darning or open toe foot attached, a denum needle and use your straight stitch plate if you have one. THis will all help the stitch look better while free motion writing. Oh... Use a slightly lighter weight thread for the bobbin too. This is like the old way of embroidering with the berninas. YOur manual should give you other tips to help. Like putting the thread through the eye in the bobin case.

You can also use a stabilizer and machine hoop, if you think that the name will be stitch intensive.
Remember to put the regular zigzag plate back on when you finish! I usually place a post it on the machine to remind myself.

I just did a queen sized quilt on this machine and was having an issue with eyelashing on the back when I was doing curves, is this what your experiencing? After many attempts found out that it was the quality of the thread that was the problem. You really should have good thread in both the top and bobbin, also are you aware that there are sensors on the bobbins for this machine because that can cause all kinds of problems. Good luck!!