I have read everything, watched videos until I am blurry eyed. I am afraid to start free motion quilting. I wanted to try large meandering or maybe a loop d loop design for a baby quilt. Some people say to start in the middle of the quilt, others say they start on one side. Help!!!

I start at the center when making a large quilt, just because I know deep inside that this is a hard as it gets. It can only get easier from there. For a smaller quilt I start anywhere. If you have read and watched videos, just get your courage and try. Trial and error is the only real way to learn. No need to be afraid, just prepare a few mock sandwiches and quilt away. Make sure you have the right foot and needle, machine correctly threaded and good thread. Good luck. Make sure you throw away the first few samples if they don't look great.

Start in the middle and practice,practice,practice. I don't know how yet either; but the shop where I bought my machine gave me that advice. Also, go at a slow and steady speed for more even stitches.

It has taken me some time to get any kind of flow going with my free motion quilting, but it does get easier with every quilt or so. One of my easiest designs was a simple meandering and occasionally stopping and stitch a star about 1-1/2 inches in width. I would suggest that you stop with each line however. Just get in a frame of mind that you are in the 4th grade once again and it is Christmas. Now draw (stitch)those five lines as you would any star on top of a Christmas tree. Stopping with each line gave my mind a chance to think the directional change and give me the opportunity to make a point at each end. Good Luck!

I was scared too until I started. I did make a small 9" x 12" mock quilt that I sandwiched together for pre practice. I had made a small baby scrappy quilt to use as practice, and then decided I needed practice before my practice quilt.
I tried several different things on the time one, then took a deep breath and did the scrappy. I did take out a few of the mistake stitches as I went along, but it turned out just fine.

You can do it!

Always start in the middle and work your way out. A meandering stitch is a good way to start. Just put on some music and let go. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I am going to start learning to FMQ also.

I am still scared, but have decided to do the following:

I am going to start with things small.....like place mats...and burp cloths (my DIL is expecting a girl in June).

I figure the plates will cover the mistakes in the place mats and the baby will "burp" all over the mistakes in the burp cloths....

Then I will go the next step..when I figure what the next step would be.

Yes, I want to learn also!

Well I'm a FM newbie, but on my recent baby quilt I made a big 'plus' sign to anchor it and then went in and filled in the remaining corner 'boxes'. Seemed to work OK. Here's a blog I read alot while gathering the courage to give it a shot -- she has diagram in it of what FM path she takes.

http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransso...-quilting.html

Make a few sandwiches and practice practice practice. I've done a bit of FMQ and I still always have a go on a practice sandwich before I 'go live' just to get into the groove. Plus, I find it's necessary to check that tension is OK, the threads nicely balanced top aand bottom, etc. In an ideal world, the practice sandwich would be the same fabric and wadding as the quilt but it doesn't always work out that way! LOL

That website is really good. Even I have picked up a few really good hints. With FM quilting the trick is consistency. Not too fast and not too slow. FM quilting is a big step. I don't like to waste so my first practicing were small quilts or placemats. If you are still uncomfortable try stitch in the ditch first. I went into FM quilting because I got bored with stitch in the ditch all my quilts. I wanted to create. Sometimes I can quilt smoother when I disable my foot control. The quilting gloves really help. However, I have such small hands that I am having a hard time find a pair that will stay on. I have short fingers and small hand spread.

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This a good free motion site. I really like this one.
Keep trying.

Thank you all so much! This site is wonderful! I've copied it and read it and am now going to give a practice (or a few) sandwiches a try. I will keep you posted.

I could not get the leah site to connect. Try this one
http://www.daystyledesigns.com

Thanks for the tutorials... I'm a newbie on FM as well. I tried it the first time this past weekend, but I'm not sure I did so well. Oh well, practice, practice, practice...

GREAT job Shopbelt

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

This site is great! She mentioned tools you need - included seam ripper. I could not imagine ripping out fmq until today! This is a work in progress. I am trying.

One tip I heard are to use gardening goves - new one, duh! Get the one that have that rubberized palm. I've tried the finger grips, but they fall off.

I saw a video last week of a famous quilter (The Quilt Show) who was FMQ using a piece of that rubberized matting that people use to keep their plates, etc. from slipping and sliding in the cabinets, originally for RVs. She cut a flat rectangle about the size of her hand and used it.

Hello - it's me again....and thank you, thank you! I have just spend a good share of today watching and experimenting with free motion quilting via http://www.daystyledesigns.com which was recently suggested by sewgull above.

What a delightful young lady who presents everything needed in learning free motion. Yes, quiltingboard.com is a great place to learn and share.