I can do FMQ on my dinky mechanical costco Brother machine. It is not fussy with thread at all, will use any of them but very fine ones. I hardly change a needle on that machine. I do notice, though, that sometimes the thread jumps out of the hook in the bobbin case and gives wonky stitching. It is a horizontal bobbin. I have to go back sometimes and pull it into the hook and be sure it is seated properly. I set the stitch length to zero and don't cover the feed dogs (they don't drop and it isn't a problem). I read somewhere that on some machines, the tension is better with the feed dogs up and zero stitch length. Let us know how it goes.

I believe I have fixed my problem! Thank you everyone!! I pulled out an old FMQ foot, (hopping foot,) that I used with my old Brother Runaway that I gave to my sister years ago. It's not the foot that came with this machine, but I think the spring is better(??). I took out my top stitch needle and replaced it with my regular 100/16 needle. My feed dogs have been down the whole time. So, so far it's going well.

Thank you all for your help and support! I used to be able to FMQ a full size quilt quite well on my Brother Runaway, so I know it's do-able. I just had to think back to what I used to do. I think I cracked it:)

:thumbup: So glad to hear it's going better for you! Not all feet are created equal, apparently!

OMG! How did you do that?!

Not easily, but it can be done and it was pretty fun in the end. I learned a ton about FMQ on a small machine doing that. I just finished my new baby's quilt (55 x 65) and it was super easy.

I think oftentimes we forget to consider the shape and height of the harp - we tend to concentrate only on the maximum length of the bed of the machine. My Magnolia has a roughly squarish shaped throat, so it's got room for me to really scrunch the quilt up in there.

There's a couple things you can try. Go up to a size 100/16 needle TOPSTITCH needle. Topstitch needles have a longer eye, and it gives your machine more time to catch the thread. Another thing to do, if the timing is off, is to move the needle bar position to the left or right. That can put the hook closer to the eye, to catch the thread.

If you could take it to the shop, it's incredibly easy to adjust the needle/hook distance or needle bar height on those types of machines. If you got the right tech, they should do it pretty cheap.