I Played at FMQ Today
 

I made two "quilts" of about 12 inches square with as close to solid fabric as I have. Then using a thread that was much darker, I just fiddled around attempting to make the stitches even. My goodness....I applaud anyone who can do that. I kept telling myself I will probably never use it on a real quilt. I just wanted to see how bad it would be. Not too bad, but gee what happens if you are in the middle of one and the phone rings? I did not do too badly when I could just go, but anywhere I stopped and started up again is pretty clear. Oh well, I was just playing.

Good for you! I'm just starting to venture into FMQ, too, and it's pretty daunting, but I WILL PREVAIL! I just need to get back to the practice mat...

Got a pic of your playtime?

Gee Teeler, are you SURE you want to see this? lol

Getting the stitches close to the same size takes lots of practice. Being relaxed helps too. Like anything else, somedays are better than others. Once the quilt is washed and dried, the stitches aren't as noticeable. We are our worst critics.

I want to see! I tried my first FMQ yesterday. The back was horrible but I'll get it right one day.

Ummm, if the phone rings or kid yells at you, you get a weird jerky spot in your FMQ. I speak from experience.

I did not have a particular pattern in mind. I just went all over. Back and forth to see if the stitches would be pretty much the same size. It almost looks like one of those puzzles kids play to see if they can get through the maze. I did take a couple of pics of it, if you REALLY want to see.........

I want to see! I am hoping to make my first practice attempts this weekend. I found some old poly/cotton yards in my stash and I figured they would make a good practice sandwich for my first tries. I want to see what to expect (or aim for!) I know it takes a long time and a lot of practice to even get close to some of the beautiful machine quilting I have seen!

I have found slowing the speed down makes a big difference. When I first started FMQ in December 2012 I lowered my feeddogs and put the stitch length to zero. I have found though that keeping the feeddogs up gives me more control. I also found keeping the stitch length at the normal size helps prevent those kind of jerky, uneven rounded edges.

Okay, here it is. As I had said, I just did little straight lines and corners to see if I could keep it steady. This is the second one. The first has a million "eyelashes", but this was much better. That is good advice about picking a pattern that will give me a chance to rest my hands. Next time I play with this, I will do that.

In her class on Craftsy, Leah Day recommends leaving the feed dogs up and covering them with a slick surface. She maintains that a lot of sewing machines just seem to stitch better that way.
I can understand why you asked, tho....sounds silly unless they are covered so as to not move the fabric.

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We've got to start somewhere - when we are all experts no one will believe what it looked like when we started out!

I put my phone on do not disturb......LOL

The darning foot you should use allows you to move the fabric freely, even though the feed dogs are up. I look a FMQ class and the instructor does some fabulous FMQ and she leaves her feed dogs up - she likes the resistance. However, she did say it was personal preference and that you should try it both ways.

That confuses me a little too. I leave my feed dogs up, but put my stitch length to 0 so they just go up and down and don't try to move the fabric back. That is what Leah Day recommends with or without a slider. I know she reccomends a slider, but I don't have a slider and this set-up has still worked well for me.

I highly recommend you watch Leah Days videos on her website: daystyledesigns .com. She's come up with over 350 designs. She also has lots of tips to share that work for her and might for you too. Drawing your design first on paper or a dry erase board before ever touching your sewing machine is the best way to start learning this process. Then make up a FQ or 1/2 yard practice sandwich w/ solid or nearly solid fabric and practice, practice, practice.

My machine (Husqvarna/Viking) will not let me keep the feed dogs up and fmq even if I put the stitch length at 0. The pressure foot puts too much pressure on the fabric and I can't move it. When Leah Day does this, she's covering her feed dogs with a Supreme Slider, but you could use a paper or index card taped over the feed dogs.

I am using my Viking Diamond with the dogs UP- there is a setting, but my issue is that is does leave marks on the supreme slider from the feed dogs. That part I don't like. I haven't tried it on my older model Viking to see if's the same.
I'm doing the practice squares every day, too. I have a special quilt to do, but it seems like forever until I'll be good enough to quilt it, and I don't want to go on with another project. Crafsty has a whole free class with Leah Day you can watch, too.

Just keep playing. The brain as well as the muscles must learn the new technique. Usually, about 8 hours of practice, spread out over several days, will do the trick. Post a pic when you can.

Teeler, Boston and Jingle all make good points. And here's another tip if you're serious about getting better...don't answer the phone! Give yourself a break and set aside as much uninterrupted time as possible, relax and let 'er rip. I'll bet you get much better much faster than you think. Good luck.

I have an older cheapy Brother that I play with for fmq. It doesn't have the option to drop the feed dogs and the darning cover plate always got hung up and messed things up. Now I never bother. And I don't change my stitch length. Just put the darning foot on and off I go. I will never win an award. But my quilts are made with love for my grandchildren and family. They don't notice or care. If I ever learn to get my stitches even I might be concidered pretty good. I would love the oportunity to learn long arm sometime. It's on my bucket list.

That's what answering machines are for. Don't answer the phone!

What a great idea to use old poly cottons from the stash to practice!!! My goal this year is to practice fmq more.

One of the things I've learned - when I'm quilting and the phone rings, they can leave me a message. If it's an emergency, they'll call back.

I'm learning to FMQ as well...bought lots of books and watched lots of videos...and love Leah Day...so inspiring.

But the best thing that has helped me is a book called doodle quilting. She recommend 'doodling' a lot...so I am spending a lot of time just doodling all over the place with paper and pencil. I'm drawing loops, l's, e's, backward C's, etc...and drawing lots of feathers. Drawing squares or triangles and practicing the filling them with feathers.

shhhh...I even 'doodled' while I was listening to the sermon in church today....don't tell anybody...but this thing could get addictive. LOL

I have been having a terrible time with fmq....it doesn't look too bad but the stitches are not even at all...I just tried EllieGirl's method with the feed dogs up and regular stitch length....WOW!!! What a difference....am going to do a lot more of fmq now...tomorrow I am quilting a Linus Project quilt and will use fmq and hopefully will post tomorrow....thank you EllieGirl!!!

I FMQed a quilt today following a pattern. I bought a stencil that was to be used with a pounce pad, but used a foam paint brush and cornstarch. That worked very well, but working with a pattern sure leaves a lot of threads to FIND and cut. Most of the other FMQing I have done has been free-hand, mostly circle doodles. I did a king size quilt and went from one corner up and down until I got to the opposite corner with stopping except for a bobbin change. That was fun!

BTW, I didn't think your FMQ was all that bad for a first (well, second) time. We all started there. The most important thing is to keep the needle down while you're moving the fabric or moving your hands.

One of the things I posted on my Goal Board January 1st (creating a list of goals was an idea of another member on the QB) was to practice FMQ'ing. I have started with a few projects on my Janome but now have the availability to rent a LA for my larger quilts at a LQS... however, now when I practice on my own machine, it seems very awkward and now I have to re-train myself. I am anxious to try Ellie's suggestion about keeping the dogs up and stitch set.

That's a great start! Just keep practicing. That's how we learn anything - practice, practice, practice.

Two things I learned from a Sue Nickels class 1)when you have to move your hands, make sure you stop, then move your hands. 2) slow down!

I've done FMQ on just three lap quilts and on the second one discovered after I was done that I'd left the feed dogs up the entire time. I didn't notice a difference at all, so that's one of the things I'm not going to worry about. Also I figure that variation in stitch length is not such a big deal unless I've got a stitch that's reeeeeely long in which case I'll just go back over it. Thanks for posting the photo of your practice square - I think you're doing just fine!

I just finished my second lap quilt doing FMQ - stippling. Feed dogs up and no slider. Tension set at about 2 on my Singer 301A. Also used Machingers gloves and set up my machine to have a large flat surface around the machine since it is not dropped down level with the table.

Actually, the biggest issue I had was staying consistent with moving the fabric around slowly enough while maintaining the same foot pedal speed. After a while my foot pedal got hot so I had to stop for a whilte to let it cool down. This quilt is a gift to my GD but I still consider it practicing...as she will not see or care about my 'mistakes.' I gave myself permission not to make 'perfect' stitches. Also, if I stitched myself into a corner...oh well....just backtracked out of it and moved on to the next area keeping my eyes only on about the five or six square inches around the needle so I could stay focused on the stitching. I didn't manage the stitches perfectly...not evenly...and some look downright bad...but after the quilt is bound and washed...you really don't notice the 'mistakes.' I loved the stippling and gave myself plenty of time and breaks in between. It took about 3 hours to stipple the whole quilt...and I was feeling more confident at the end then at the beginning. Keep making small quilts and practicing until feeling confident to do somthing more intricate. This is good for now.

Anne- I think you did fine for your first time out. Question: did you work bottom-to-top, or top-to-bottom with this practice pattern? I can't seem to figure out which way I need to be working. And forget about where to stop and pivot...I totally forget that I HAVE to, and just keep going until I get stuck in a corner. (Practice)

S124- nice job! How do you get "real stitch lengths" in there?! Every time I FMQ I seem to just have these teensy-weensy, almost non-existent spaces between stitches. Am I not moving it enough? (Practice)

I'm in between projects at the moment, so hope to get back to the practice mat this week (in between playing in the garden with this gorgeous weather that has finally arrived)

Thank you to the person that gave an estimate of practice time for us noobs; at least we can have a goal and perhaps be able to see real progress! (Practice!)

Oh, I wanted to mention...LOL...I practiced again this weekend, and have to say that there apparently are "off" days since I couldn't seem to get a smooth line no matter what I did. It was just all jagged and just no smooth swirls/movements anywhere- worse than even the first time I tried FMQ. So I tried the wine trick...nope, didn't work. Not better, not worse...just didn't do anything. So I chalked it up to an 'off' day, and put it aside for another day since wasting thread didn't seem like the thing to do when nothing was falling into place AT ALL. (Keep practicing!)

Another thing I noticed more this time than the first time was a real need for additional space to the left of the machine. My hand kept falling off the bed of the machine. Must go find that 'foam surround' tutorial here on the boards and make one. (right tools will make practice go better!)

This is my first attempt at FMQ. The instructor couldn't even tell that I had used that technique - she commented that she liked my hand stitching! Lol. But I will persevere, and keep practicing, mainly on the doll quilts exchange (sorry in advance to anyone who might receive a wonky quilt from me).

A lot of points of view, and wonderful advice. I am not sure what I would use it for except for a wall hanging that is waiting to be quilted. It is of a fish tank and I want the illusion of water in the stitching. That particular day, I was just wanting to do something different. Thanks so much for all of your input. That is makes this group so great. So many people willing to share information.

Well, as for 'real stitch lengths' they really aren't very consistent, but they get better with practice. Some of my stitch lengths are 3 times the length of others, but no matter, practice is what it takes. I did make one of those foam surround for my 301A and it does definitely help to keep the quilt moving around at an even pace. Also, the gloves help too. What else......oh....my 301 tension knob had a tendency to move down to 0 on it's own...and the tension on the back side of the quilt was very loose, so I had to keep checking that. Taking short breaks to manuever the quilt and rotating the quilt to get a new angle helps. I used an imaginary line and divided the quilt into quadrants (see Leah Day videos). That also helped. Basically practice is what it takes.

probably you're moving more slowly than the speed of the machine would suggest that you should be. It's a dance between your hand speed and your pedal speed. They should be in sync, but it's the thing we usually need to work on the most. Yes, practice. :)