Leah Day is on YouTube and starts with a basic lesson #1, then move onto the #2, #3, etc. And, aside from the gloves, remember to bring your completed stitching toward yourself. This way you can see where you have been and where you need to go. Good Luck!!! And PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Last time I FMQ, my darning foot broke. I have an old Viking 630, and the darning foot was $20-$30. It was like the metal part that makes it hop broke in half.
Does anyone here just use a regular foot?
I have the ability, and do use, the ability to lower the feed dogs, I'm thinking about just using an open toe foot. Anybody have luck using that?

I love to fmq. just get the stipple foot and off you go. remember to lower your feeddogs. try quilting on a placemat size with top and bottom material and batting as it would be for a quilt. you will learn to even write your name and do designs. good luck.

I just took a FMQ class and the first thing we did was make a sandwich anywhere from 18"-22" square and divided that up into squares-- down the middle top to bottom and side to side and then again on sides and across--straight stitched down those lines to make the squares--started out doing the 5 shapes found in any design--arc, s-curve, straight line, loop and hook (which looks like a cursive c). Instructor advised setting machine at slow speed and pressing fast on the pedal--I found medium speed and fast pedal worked best on my machine. I had also watched the Craftsy "Beyond Basic Machine Quilting" class and Leah Day's videos and had done meandering and arcs on a quilt. I used Machinger's gloves but didn't feel the slider helped much. I bought a table with insert that helped. The next quilt I do I will use the quadrant method so that there isn't all the quilt between needle and arm of the machine. I think the most important thing to remember is always keep the needle in needle down position so the quilt doesn't shift when you stop and start again. I used an open toed darning/quilting foot.

Well, there is no reason you couldn't try. You probably will need to lower the pressure of the foot though- the darning feet kind of float above the quilt, not press down on it.


I've heard of people who don't use a foot at all, but I'd just sew right through my finger...

All good advice. I use the batting I cut off finished quilts to make practice squares. I practice a lot to get into the rhythm of the stitch I've chosen before putting needle to quilt. I hate ripping out quilting stitches.
The only addition I've added that I haven't seen here is the massage therapist after I've finished a large quilt. It takes her about an hour to get my shoulders out of my ears. Stop frequently (with needle down), grab the seat of your chair and pull your shoulders back down. Have fun with it! Mine is never perfect, but it certainly personalizes my quilts!

Another consideration may be the type of batting to practice with, I just completed a quilt with a poly batt that was suppose to be low loft, didn't enjoy working with it at all, it seemed to have lots of loft, and my stitching looked very irregular compared to when I use warm and natural which doesn't have the loft, sort of stays put, and the stitches turn out nice and even.
All the points brought up by the above members are great to follow too.

I practiced on many pieces of fabric and then just jumped in....took a while but finished a kings size quilt for my dgs and his new wife....they loved it....the more you do it the easier it becomes....of course i only did one type of design but it worked.....it was the 1st fmq i have made

I took that craftsy course. She explains everything as she goes, the things you need and the process. I found I just needed to do what she was doing and it worked out so well. I loved that course and it really improved my skills.
Good luck!

I also bought one of the courses on FMQ on Craftsy. But I have learned a lot more from a couple of books I checked out of the library. One is by Harriet Hargraves and another is by Diane Gaudynski. I liked the one by Harriet Hargraves so much I bought a copy from Amazon. Now to just get to practicing.