Every time one of you quilting wizards put up a picture of free motion quilting I go back to my machine, make myself a little quilt sandwich and try again...

The results range from awful to dismal. Then today I was browsing through a quilt site on the net and it was suggested there that you attach your free motion quilting foot as usual but DON'T lower the feed dogs.

I was game for anything!!! Right from the first stipple I felt more in control. There's enough room under the foot that movement still happens quite easily but the dogs helped pull me along during those moments when I would have ordinarily gotten a sharp jerk or long stitches.

Here is the result of the very first try!! A vast improvement over my other attempts!

By George, I believe she's got it :!: :lol: Looks good to me :!: :D

Looks great! :) Don't lower the feed dogs??? Wow, going to have to try that. :)

Looks great. :thumbup: I will have to try that.

thanks for the tip! :wink:

Looking good mamagus. I think that really, you can do quilting anyway you want to and however it feels comfortable for you. I've done the free motion with the feed dogs down and with them up. I think for me it depends on the fabric that I am working on at the time. Either way....whatever works, right!!

Gerat idea!! I'll give that a try! Thanks for the tip!

FEED DOGS UP....I MUST give that a try because my luck with stippling has been SO DISMAL that I have almost given up on this.

THANX for the suggestion....

I forgot to lower mine once and found out I get better results!

You did great mamagus! Am so glad you shared that tidbit and pictures with us. Great input is alwaysl a good thing:))Looking at your pics...I'd thought you'd always done good:)Skeat

I will give it a try too.. I am just getting to the point that I am going to try the machine quilting.... I did make a baby blanket yesterday and I also set up the Hinterberg.. I will try first on my regular machine with the baby quilt and then try a cheaters panel in the frame...

Looks wonderful! I'll have to give that a try too. My free motion skills are icky!

thanks Mamagus..i had heard that but always thought yeah sure and never tried it so it is good to hear that it works and i will have to give that a try! I too have tried free motion quilting and have had the same problems with jerking and mine looked nothing like it was supposed to!

Congratulations on finding out what works for you! That looks great!

Now go back and try Lowering those feed dogs and relax and Slow down, You can do it and you won't be fighting the teeth of the dogs. I did start with them up and then got brave and lowered them and discovered, I could move the Fabric any way direction I wanted I am in control not the Machine. Hope you do try it.

looks very good. keep it up.

looks very good. keep it up.

That looks great! I never lower my feed dogs when I do freemotion, it just seems to work better if I don't.

By George, I believe you are right. She does have it. Nice work. Isn't grand when you get some little piece of help but it turns out to be a really big deal for you? I love it when that happens.

Looks great! I tried that, but mine wouldn't move.

Did you adjust the presser foot so it's riding a little higher or just leave it as is?

I did this by mistake and I couldn´t do a thing, my machine just did not like the feed dogs up. Found that if I use chalk (just ordinary white kiddies chalk) to mark up a design that helped me follow something. I think it is the fear of not knowing where you are going that makes you scared to use the machine freely. Does that make sense???? the white chalk just puffs out when you pat it. I used another colour and found I had to use a cloth with washing up liquid on it to get rid of the dang colour. :lol: So try it on a bit of fabric first, don´t want the quilting police coming knocking at my door. :lol: :lol:
Elle

I don't think my machine will let me do free motion with the feed dogs up but i'll have to look into it. I thought i had them up once and my machine said error hehehe Oh well, if not I'll slow down to but also i have learned with that I need to baste more.

Great job too

It takes a long time to become good at free motion quilting. I have been free motion quilting for about a year now and am just starting to get the hang of it. Keep practicing and you will get better. :D

That is just gorgeous, only a year Hmmmm got a lot of practicing then

:lol: Elle

Great job cissyquilts!

Thanks for the tip. Your free motion quilting looks great!! Do you also wear the quilting gloves with the little rubbery dots on them? I find this helps me have more control of the fabric. Now if I could just get all my stitches to be the same length..... :lol:

Cecelia,

That's beautiful quilting. I love the heart design. You give me hope that with practice I may be able to get the hang of it.

Mamagus, your quilt looks like mine. I am still in the practice-practice-practice stage in quilting. I agree with all: it is very nice looking!

CissyQuilts, your quilt is most inspiring! I have been exercising my free motion quilting as well but I guess that practice does improve our confidence together with our assurance on the machine. My motifs are so near one from the other, it nearly look like parallel stitches, even if I use surgical gloves.

From your picture, I see that great movements are better, preferable to little puzzle-like motifs, depending on the quilt top motif of course, right?

One thing that I would like to know is about thickness: in the past, I bought several bed covers but with time, they became used but I keep them in a closet, hoping that one day, I could use them for a quilt. Can I do that or is it better to use batting sold by the yard?