Leah Day swears by leaving the feed dogs up and setting the stitch length to 0. She indicates she has no tension issues that way. I tried it on my machine, works perfectly. And I don't have to change my tension to go back and forth from piecing to FMQing.

I totally agree with this, the more you practice drawing a design the better it will look when quilting. Jerkiness can often be from hesitation of not knowing where to go where if you draw a design over and over you know the movements. I have a brother and I actually don't mind the hopping foot but also check the height as the thicker the sandwich the more you have to adjust the presser foot height for FMQ. I also agree with the slider( I use a sew slip II) and the gloves. Also having you machine flush in a table creating less drag and this makes a huge difference so keep all that in mind. there are suspender by jenihoop if you have a small table or no flush surface to reduce drag. There are a lot of things that play into the quality of stitching with FMQ. Getting a consistent speed. My problem is when I have to make any turns it is tempting to speed or slow down your hands but if you keep the same machine speed this also leads to sloppy stitches. The drawing practice helps with this so you are unlikely to alter hand speed. One day you will just finally have an AHA moment when you get what is needed to give good results

Oh, right now I'm just doing sandwich squares. I wouldn't subject an actual quilt to what I'm "creating" at present!

Thank you! This is very helpful. What I see online appears to glide, though it also seems to hop. But they are way smoother than I am, though also a lot more experienced, of course. The foot I'm using came with my machine but I'm going to try to find a glide foot. I have some gloves but they are not machiners, just grippy garden gloves...and are too big. They do help....but I hate wearing them. My hands get claustrophobic, ha! Maybe I'll cut out some of the fingers.

Another question: (I'm full of them!) When you use a different colored bobbin thread, does it show at all on the front...or the top thread on the back? I know it's not supposed to and doesn't on my old standby machine, but does on this Brother. I've adjusted everything I can think of and still see tiny loops on the opposite side. It doesn't matter in what I'm doing now but someday I might want to use different colored threads, and I know the rest of you do at times, so I'd like to know.

Yes, I saw that on her intro video (haven't bought the lesson she does). I tried it both ways and the fabric moves better with the feed dogs down. Some say to move the tension way up -- Jenny at Missouri Star Quilt Co. is one -- but when I tried that, it's worse. Someone else said make it looser. Right now mine is about one less than normal and that seems to work.

Thanks, all, for your hints, suggestions, and encouragement!

l teach fmq when l'm in Fla. First, you need to "plan" what you're going to quilt, and practice that on paper or a white board...it builds confidence.lf possible, put your machine into a table,desk, or counter with a cut-out so the surface is flush. Get a slider and some gloves w/grips ( Fonz & Porter ones are inexpensive & come in a couple of sizes). Drop the feeddogs ( l don't care what Leah Day says...try it) . There is a 3 in one floating foot put out by Janome...it has a part you attach to the machine and 3 choices of feet to screw onto it ( a ruler foot, a 'c' foot, and a clear bull's eye.) lt can be adjusted up/down to accomodate tge thickness of your batting with a thumb screw. It'll fit your machine if it has a low shank. As far as the actual sewing goes...practice, practice, practice. Just relax , breath, and do a little every day. By the time a couple of weeks pass, you'll be amazed at your progress!

Try holding only the edge of the fabric on right and left sides with two fingers and moving versus hands flat. I find that works most of the time and relieves stress on arms and neck. I still wear gloves. Practice is the best and you seem determined which is great, it does get easier in time. I have filled a few notebooks to learn different shapes, still not great but getting better. Good Luck

1. Tension at 0, feed dogs down/covered
2. Machine bed flush with tabletop
3. Supreme Slider
4. Machingers
5. Quilt Suspenders
6. Crayola Ultra Clean markers to mark design on quilt top before layers
7. New Sharp Needle with every quilt, size 80 Quilting/Microtex
8. Aurifil thread
9. Sketch out stitch path on paper first to build visual memory
10. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

You don't mention putting the feed dogs down. Try them down it does make the fabric glide better. I followed Leah Day and with one of my machines free motion world following her instructions with another machine it only works smooth
y with the feed dogs down. Also you need plenty of practise with bigger samples as the weight from a quilt and the sheer area to be quilted, stop and starting etc all make new problems. Also marking the quilt and following a pattern makes a new problem.
keep trying it comes eventually.

As for the slider...I found in the infant department at WalMart a slider that sits on a high chair tray to make clean up easier. It appears to be the same as my "slider", but I need to cut a hole in it for the needle to pass. It was less than $5. Will let you know how it works when I quilt my Irish Chain this week.