LOVE this description - so true.

I like Kimmy Bruners class on craftsy, she goes through each step by showing you examples on paper then does it on a quilt. The other thing with the craftsy classes is you can watch them over and over till you get it. It makes it easier to practice when you can see someone doing it.

For me it worked to start with patterns that came naturally - meandering and stippling were easy for me right from the beginning, whereas feathers and cables and whatnot still make my head ache! My girlfriend hates stippling but loves to do little interlocking triangles (lots of short straight lines) as that is what comes naturally to her. If there is some pattern that you have found yourself repeatedly doodling over the years while on the phone, or on your notebooks in highschool, try doing that for your FMQ. There is a huge amount of muscle memory at work here, and if your brain already has a pattern learned it will make mastering the speed/hand motion coordination much easier. Not to mention that a pattern you have been doodling for years probably already appeals to you at some level, and will therefore look nice even if quilted imperfectly!

I am glad that unclenching your jaw has helped! (I have to work at dropping my shoulders...)

Alison

I watched a TON of Leah Day's videos and I did my practicing on potholders and place mats! I'm not great at FMQ but it doesn't terrify me anymore either. I still need a LOT of practice before I would do it on an "important" quilt, but quilts that are just for me are perfect for practicing on. I even managed to FMQ a king size quilt! (And I don't have a longarm machine....yet)

A tip that helped me a lot - make sure you have good support for your quilt as you're working. If too much of your quilt is hanging off the table it can pull itself along faster than you want it to and it's harder to control. Grippy quilting gloves helped me quite a bit, too.

I love free motion when I get started. It always takes me a time to start. I think practise is one thing you need but like hand quilting somebody who encourages and does not critise. If you make a mistake repeat it a few times to make it part of the pattern. I also refuse to undo unless it is absolutely terrible.

Practice, practice, practice works, but it really did help me to take a hands on class on FMQ. This was some years ago, and it was taught by a well known quilter in a nearby LQS one afternoon, something like 4 hours. She helped me to overcome the fear of making feathers by FMQ. We took turns on the two longarm quilters in the store, and it was well worth the time and money. I have seen FMQ classes (either half or full day) being offered the day before a quilt/sew expo starts. This may be worth investigating the next time an expo is scheduled at a nearby convention center, etc.

I was just going to post that link! I even use it for Longarm ideas. It is a fantastic resource.

Just jump in and go for it!! My 12 year old son occasionally watches the Leah Day craftsy classes on my ipad with me and he chose the "circuit board" for his bed quilt that I'm working on. After a small practive block I decided to just go for it...

Sure, not every junction is exactly 90 degrees, not every stich in the ditch is exactly in the ditch, not every travel stitch is travelling the correct path, but there is sooo much that looks good and we (*I*) have to focus on what is right and that is 99% of it and my son LOVES it. I'm almost done completely, just some more quilting for borders and in the smaller squares.

I use parchment paper like you use in baking to draw a pattern on and then pin it on the quilt - I work in sections - and follow that. The parchment paper rips away from the stitching fairly easily and you can see through it to trace the pattern. I have used tissue paper as well like you use in gift wrapping but the parchment paper is a little stronger. Gloves with grippies help me too. You can buy quilting gloves but garden gloves with grippies on them are cheaper and work well too. I use a Frixon pen for tracing the pattern on the parchment paper so if any ink comes off on the thread then it easily is ironed and washed away. I find that by tracing the pattern like I would sew it helps get my mind in the right motion sequence and when I go to sew it it is already familiar.

Just attended an heirloom feathers (and background fillers) class taught by Cindy Needham at the Augusta Maine show. It was inspiring and I started to get the gist of the feathers much better than my many previous attempts. Cindy also has a Craftsy class online. If you like to learn from books I think Harriett Hargrave is the best. As we can see there are a huge number of resources to learn. The key to it a ll is the practice.