I read a post earlier today that made me stop and think. The poster said, and this isn't an exact quote, "If you can't draw with a pencil you won't be able to draw with a sewing machine." :shock:

I have all the technical aspects of FMQ down. My practice sandwiches are pucker free, stitch length is fairly even throughout. Yet, they still look like crap because I can't draw my way out of a paper sack and have never had the ability. I honestly didn't realize how much being able to draw mattered! No wonder FMQ has been an exercise in frustration for me. Even my stippling and meandering has the look of something being tortured.

I'm going shopping for stencils.

Please don't give up. The owner of my LQS talked me into taking any picture from any magazine or newspaper and just practice drawing or tracing over that picture. It helped me, maybe it will help you too.

You can use a white board and just draw, draw, draw. Also, turn on music you enjoy and that will help you relax and not stress. If you have a friend that can draw a stipple or meander for you, place a piece of plexi-glass over it and use a vis a vis marker and practice tracing it. Or put it on a copy machine and make multiple copies that you can practice tracing.

doodle on a white board, really will make a huge difference.

Seriously, Sally Terry suggests using paper and pencil to practice any chance you get. Eventually your hand and eye learn to coordinate and the motion becomes second nature. Like learning to ride a bike I guess. It worked for me!

You can also get Golden Threads paper. You trace the quilt design on to it and pin it to the quilt and just quilt along the lines. That will also help you develop muscle memory. Believe me I can't draw much either, but with the paper it comes out looking pretty good.

Doodling with a pencil, without any plan or thought and without lifting it off the paper, will relax your mind and loosen your muscles. Waltz the pencil around on the paper. When you're relaxed, switch hands and hold the pencil still while you move the paper around underneath it. You are now free motion drawing! :lol:

You're not trying to quilt the Mona Lisa after all, just lines and shapes. People learn to draw all the time...with pencils, paints or sewing machines. For all of them, it takes practice.

I've never felt it's the fact that some people can draw better with a pencil (ok,maybe they can) but I think the doodling is to practice the motion - getting the hand and eye coordination working.

If you're doodling (with a pencil) teardrop shapes, for instance, what do you do - or how do you - extricate yourself from a dead end?
How do you move to another section of the block?
How do you adjust the shapes if you're in a tight smaller area trying to find your way out?

I think it's more to become familiar with those kinds of situations so you don't panic and tense up and/or freeze when you're actually FMQ-ing and confront the same situations.

So like Sadiemae suggested upthread, just keep drawing.

I'm not giving up! No way, no how! Seriously though - I really can not draw. My hand writing is barely legible, to the point my signature is never the same twice.

I'm going to look into the Golden Threads paper. Do they still make tracing paper?

i have never been a doodler... never. and i am definitely not the artist of the family. but there are lots of squiggles and other designs that you can use for your quilting that don't need tons of talent. just find your niche and use what you are good at. your quilts will look great.

Don't give up. I paint and draw and my FMQ looks like heck. No amount of practice has helped. I have been working on my DGD's queen size quilt today. Nothing but problems. Thread fraying, needles breaking. Finally stopped and am drinking a mango margarita. Maybe things won't look so bad when I go back to work on it. My biggest problem is the small harp on my Bernina. Unfortunately, I cannot buy a new, bigger machine.

You can doodle with your machine as well. Old needle, picture on paper - trace picture.
Remember that you're not getting graded on staying with the lines. :)

I agree with the ladies,it is fun you get better with practice.....

I have an old roll of white paper and I sit down and practice doing diferent designs, vines and leaves, hearts and twirls, did an abstract one, trying to do no two quilts in the same design. Need to practice feathers. Use to fmq in the round and round, but when I did 4 king-size quilts I mask taped across the center, started in the center went back and forth till that half was done. Turned the quilt around and did the other end. Will probably quilt fmq this way from now on. I usually tape my design paper to the wall and repeat to myself what I did. The knack of doing a quilt half at a time is to repeat the design in the same size and dimension as the first half.

I can draw myself silly with flowers, vines, feathers.......anything on paper. But when I carefully put my quilt onto the machine, with plenty of support to hold the weight, I still only have about 5-6" of FMQ area and it drives me insane. I cannot afford to send a quilt out to a long armer. I'll just keep struggling along until I finish. I have fabric for 4 more quilts. I think I will quit buying fabric. If I finish these five, I will be lucky.

That's a stupid poster. I can draw, sketch and paint but my FMQ looks like my cat did it after spending lots of quality time with her catnip. It is all practice, practice, practice. Just because you can't draw doesn't mean you can't learn how to FMQ. Just keep at it and it will come.

That's what srencils are for :-)

:thumbup:

She didn't come across as condescending or mean spirited in her post. I believe she was only pointing out that a person isn't going to magically become Michelangelo in front of a sewing machine without practice.

I realized, from her post, that I can't draw with a crayon so what in the world would made me think I could do it with a electric machine and a needle going at 1000 stitches per minute?! The ability to draw has to make the flow easier, my brain doesn't work that way. I've said before "My brain creates a masterpiece, my hands make a mess."

If you are this frustrated, I would suggest you purchase a couple of stencils of designs that you want to learn. Practice with them enough and you will develop muscle memory. You can purchase stipple and meander patterns, as well as anything you probably ever dreamed of. I just don't enjoy following a line, so I practice A LOT!

Here are some free pantographs that you can practice with. Just print them with your printer.
http://www.urbanelementz.com/shop/category/free-stuff/

Maybe the old exercise we used to use for art classes would help you begin to draw in a more relaxed way.

I think this came from Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain ... or some book like that.

In drawing a chair:
Don't draw ... draw the negative space around the chair ... and maybe even draw it upside down.

Sorta like that old shadow picture where you had to look at the open spaces to see the work Jesus as all the darker areas were what was the negative space around the word.

Wish I could state it better. Maybe someone else can.

It all comes down to practice, practice, practice. Then dropping those negative comments in your head about your work.

ali

Sadiemae -Thank you for the link to the free panto's. I was going to buy stencils, these will work even better!

I'm really not frustrated. I'm aware of my capabilities and my strengths and weaknesses. All elements of quilting are a challenge for me, but I love the end result, so I keep trying to get better at it.

I can bake! We may not have beautiful handmade quilts to keep us warm but we won't starve!

I think you will have beautiful handmade quilts by the look of your avatar. Don't count yourself short, we all learn in different ways at different speeds. I see all of the beautiful paper pieced quilts and know I would never finish them in several lifetimes.

Pooh I can't draw either!!!

20 some odd years ago a friend and I were trying to teach ourselves to batik - using wax and dye - we put wax in a little pipe like thing or a paint brush and made designs on fabric - then dyed - I had a pretty hard time of it. I'm not a good drawer - I can come up with ideas real good. My friend could draw... Long story short. One day her dad who was a professional graphic artist back in the day came over to see what batik was. We set him down and he got really into it - beautiful work. I asked him how he knew what to do. He just laughed made a few comments but what stuck with me was when he said, "There isn't really ANYTHING you can't get good at if you practice long enough." It's been my motto ever since. If I flub up, I just haven't practiced enough.

Try hobby lobby or michaels

That i.s me I have tried to copy on lines. Can't do that either

My Granddaughter has a art book that has exercises to draw things like circles and lines to help improve and keep your drawing skill. So just like sewing. The more you do it the better you will get.

Also watching the videos on YouTube over and over - listen to them explain what they are doing and tell yourself I CAN DO THAT. Every quilt I make I look at as a new learning experience. I'm practicing on every one.

don't give up get a good book that teaches free motion work and follow the exercises I can't draw a straight line and I took a free motion class and was surprised how easy flowers, leaves and even feathers can be I really learned a lot

Don't feel badly, I think some of us are cut out for it and some are not.

I'm sure if I practiced and practiced and practiced I could get it down, BUT, I find no pleasure at all in machine quilting my own items. The lady that I have machine quilt my quilt for me even let me do one on her long arm (she thought I'd enjoy it more if I tried it on a long arm) and I must admit that I did not. I was stressed...my shoulders ached after I was done, AND I saw ever little imperfection on it.

For me personally, it is more of a pleasure to pick up my quilt from the machine quilter with butterflies in my stomach wondering what it will look like rather than spending agonizing hours doing it myself.

I highly recomend Patsy Thompson Quilting DVD's. You can find them at big Joann's and you can use a coupon. Her feather one worked wonders for me. And I can't draw at all!

Don't listen to that bad advice. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler but I FMQ and it's pretty good. The secret is building muscle memory. When there's something you want to quilt, whether it's FMQ feathers or meandering or bitty circles, draw it with paper and pencil or on a white board, over and over and over. You'll get better and better. A friend could not do those tiny circle, bubble FMQ no matter what, so she just did tiny squares and they look good too.
Whatever you do, practice, practice, practice and don't give up.
Jenny

I agree! I am doing a King size quilt right now and use golden threads paper for my motifs. I am pretty pleased with myself! I can't draw either, but I can trace and I can follow the lines!!!

This is what I have a hard time wrapping my brain around.

If you are drawing on paper you are holding the paper still and moving the pencil.
If you are FMQ on a domestic machine MOST times you are moving the quilt(paper) and the machine (pencil) stays still.
To me it is a totally different feel .

I'm glad you started this thread. I'm in the same boat as you. My husband bought me a longarm and insists that all I have to do is decide that I can do it! Well, maybe for him, he's more of an artist than I am. I can picture something in my head but it doesn't translate to paper very well. But I am getting better. I can do a nice stipple now and am slowly learning more and getting better. I probably will never get really good with FMQ (I like ruler work better) but I think I will still learn a lot as time goes on.

I originally trained as an Art teacher, and I don't really agree with the idea that you present. I think if you practice your drawing and sewing then both will improve. You are possibly being too tough on yourself too soon. No one becomes a marvellous quilter overnight - it takes practice. I hope you persevere with it a bit longer, as there will come a time when everything will click into place and you will have a eureka moment.

I too have been hesitant to do FMQ because I could never draw well. These suggestions are great, and I will keep trying. Thank you ladies!

Another site that has free designs is http://www.forestquilting.com I trace a design on tracing
paper then pin to the quilt and follow the lines..you can
practice on a quilt sandwich of scraps. Coloring books are
good also for designs..good luck!

I would just go for it, drawing ability or not. I am not an artist by any means, but I can FMQ and thread paint with some degree of ability. It takes a lot of practice, but I always make up practice squares before beginning to FMQ and that does help. Good luck!