I will jump in here and put in my stitches worth. I am just learning FMQ, also. My machine is a Viking basic- no electronics. I do the darning foot and lower the top tension a bit.I have tried feed dogs down but prefer them up. I wear a pair of garden gloves with those litle nubbies on the palms and fingers. No slick anything underneath. I will post a pic in a few days of the one I am doing now. It isn't perfect but there are no quilt police. It is a lot faster than hand quilting, although I still love that a lot. I can see that I have a lot more practice to do but will keep at it. Figure when the quilt is done, most folk won't notice the little mistakes. It will be warm to snuggle under and that is all that counts.

sorry about double posting.

Check out Leah Day's web site, she gives a lot of information.
http://www.daystyledesigns.com/freemotionquilting.htm

I find this interesting...I tried for the first time to FMQ yesterday (after a year and a half saying I'd never even try it!)and am using the slowest speed on my machine...Should I speed it up? And should I or shouldn't I drop the feed dogs? I did last night. I'm just practicing on mug rugs and to me it seems "okay". I'm very interesting in knowing the "right" way.

OMG, so much information!

OMG, so much information!

Agree with the thoughts that a stitch regulator is not required! I learned without one...and you can too. It does take some practice, no doubt - but so does a SR :)

Have fun learning. Once you get it, you've got it!

Debbie in Austin

There isn't a 'right' way...It's however it works for you, and your particular machine. When it comes out looking good, then you've found the 'right' way :)

You can put feed dogs up or down, depending on whether you like less control or more control (the feed dogs will provide you with a little more resistance, but many people like this). Use whatever thread you like, and make your stitches as long (but not TOO long <smile>) or as short as you like (but not a knot <smile>). It is 'right' when it looks good and feel comfortable to you :)

Have a great time learning!
Debbie in Austin

I am in the market for a frame. I went to a friends and watched her, and she has a metal frame, and a regular machine, and a stencil, I call it, but there is another name for it, and a style pen and away she went and made butterflies, I was itching to use it, and since it was my quilt, she said are you sure you want to try, and I said yes, and the first couple of butterflies had point on the tips and then they got better. You can do it, and my Babylock dealer told me the same thing. for about $7,000.00, and I said no way. So I am looking into buying a frame for about $1,000 and using my ellegeo on the frame. I will always ask now before letting my dealer talk me into a deal. I know these ladies on here know from experience

Brenda Joy

The only thing that is needed for consistent stitch length in FMQ is PRACTICE. You will soon hit the sweet spot where you move the quilt at a consistent speed in harmony with the needle going up and down. My first suggestion is to go a bit slower on the curves but if you practice, you will get it. I did. Good luck.

I took a class with John Flynn a year or two ago. This subject came up. He said that he has had students in class use the Regulator, but found after just a short while, it was much easier to go without it.

My suggestion would be go to WalMart (or right now, to Hancocks), and buy several yards of a cheap material with some large print. Make a quilt sandwhich, and just FMQ along the print. Once you have that down, get some solid color material and do a little FMQ free hand without marking it before.

I know the first few times that I FMQd, the stitches were so tiny or so huge, it was embarassing.

But, with practice, I am beginning to get the hang of it, and I am sure you will too. Good luck.

If you cover the teeth of the feed dogs the machine will not bunch up the bottom side. Some machines have a knob to do this. Mine does not. I ruined a lap quilt I had made. But I learned this simple trick and it works. You can use a business card or a piece of reciepe card.

I'm sure someone else has said this, but it sounds to me like she was trying to sell you a new machine.

I have a stitch regulator on my machine, but I don't use it when doing FMQ. I can turn my machine on and it will sew without using the foot pedal, so I just set my speed where I want it, hit the on/off button, and start moving my fabric. Because the machine speed doesn't change, if I keep moving my fabric at the same speed, my stitches are consistently the same length. When I am ready to stop, I stitch off the top into the batting/backing and hit the on/off button.

Unfortunately, I didn't discover this method before I put out the extra $$$ for the stitch regulator. I could have gotten the next model down without it.

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking.

I do FMQ on my $150 Brother sewing machine without a stitch regulator. It is true that my stitches are not always perfectly even, but more often than not, they're quite passable. lol I'll say here that I've only done two FMQ'd quilts. It takes practice, and there will certainly be imperfections, but it absolutely can be done. I've found the key for ME is to sew full speed ahead and move the quilt at a steady medium pace. This gives ME the best results. When I first did it, I found it easier for me to concentrate if I went at a medium speed on the machine and slow movement with the quilt and as I progressed I noticed my stitches getting longer and longer because I was moving too fast, so I had to speed up the machine.

Oh, I just thought of something I recently "invented"!

I do not have a Regulator, and have wanted one, but cannot afford it, and since I had been told I really didn't need one - I got creative.

I found that if I place the foot pedal of my machine so it is "jammed" against something, I don't need pay attention to it at all, and can just concentrate on my hand movements while FMQing.

I have done it a couple different ways.
1- I put the machine on a table, that had a wall beside the right side of the machine. Then I simply scooted the machine up against the foot pedal, until it went on it's own. Then to start and stop, I used the power switch that controlled the outlet I had plugged the cord into (it was attached to the table).

2-I have a pressing table, underneath the cutting table where I put my machine when I am FMQing. There is a slight gap between the pressing tabel top, and the cutting table bottom. I wedged the foot in there, and it kept going. I could then use the sewing machine off/on switch. One word of caution on this though, you don't want to wear out your machine's switch! But, you could get an extension cord with a switch on it. When I did this way, I put a mark on the foot, so I would know in the future exactly how far to press it under my table, so I will always get a consistant speed, from one time of sewing to the next. I played with it until it was fast enough but not too fast.

Funny. Every time I tried using a stitch regulator at the Bernina store the stitches were never even.

I do much better having my own rhythm and using my Pfaff.

ali

I don't have one either. I either drop my feed dogs or do it with them up. It does take practice but if you go slow and steady you will improve a lot as you go along. The lady just wanted to sell you either a new machine or the part to go with the one you have.

I recently took a FMQ class from a well known quilt teacher and she said you do not need a stitch regulator. All you really need is the ability to lower your feed dogs and lots of practice. I have done FMQ on my old 1960's Bernina 830 and also do it on my new Bernina 440 with the regulator. I've found that practice is the most important. All the teachers I have taken classes from say, "Practice!" They are right. (Some of these people sold machines and some were sponsored by machine companies.)

You do not need a stitch regulator. What you do need is to learn to relax, practice on some fun thing like a doggy mat or tote bag piece. I got my groove going on some children's fabric for totes for the GDs. I haven't mastered the drawn designs yet, still letting the fabric tell me where to stitch. By the by, variegated thread makes the process fun.

You do not need a stitch regulator. What you do need is to learn to relax, practice on some fun thing like a doggy mat or tote bag piece. I got my groove going on some children's fabric for totes for the GDs. I haven't mastered the drawn designs yet, still letting the fabric tell me where to stitch. By the by, variegated thread makes the process fun.

I don't have a stitch regulator. I FMQ just fine without it. I think it would be nice to have, but it is by no means essential. I found I just needed to practice. I think your teacher gave you some wrong information.

It's just like when you steady your foot on the gas peddle for a constant speed without cruise control...same for FMQ without regulator..

I have a fairly new Bernina without stitch regulator and I can do nice FMQ.....but I can also do nice FMQ on a 1904 treadle by 0 out the stitch length, a 1950 clone Singer Model 15, and maybe my Featherweight (haven't tried her). You can see there are many options available without spending big dollars.

A little tip, some newer machines that have the bigger needle hole for zigzag stitch are sometimes not as cooperative with FMQ but again, you usually can buy a plate with the straight st. stitch hole.

Hope this is helpful

the earlier gammill longarms did not have stitch regulators. A friend who quilts professionally has this one and does a wonderful job.

You can quilt beautifully on your DSM. Take the time to practice moving the fabric towards you and away from you. I found that I moved at different speeds depending on the direction. After working to even out the quilt moving in any direction my stitching is getting more even.

One of the most helpful tips I got at a class was to know where you are going with the stitching. When you need to, just needle down, look at the space and decide how you are going to move around the space. Not knowing where you are going will cause uneven stitches....


Make sure that the quilt is supported and not dragging or catching on anything. Start with smaller samples and projects.

Good luck, have fun

I DON"T use my stitch regulator on my Bernina. I prefer to FMQ on a very inexpensive Brother machine I bought at Wal-Mart! It's how I learned and I feel more comfortable doing it that way.

The only advice I can give you is to practice, practice, practice...
I also found that working on lapsized pieces helped alot. I made placemats for most of my family members for the holiday season--after that, it was pretty easy to move to bigger items. Best of luck!

Just today I finished a baby quilt doing FMQ without a stitch regulator and it turned out just fine - I've done many by droping the feed dogs and away I go - first I start with a small quilt sandwich to practice the design on, and loosen up, then just dive in - I look at each quilt I do as more practice, and just keep telling myself I'm still learning. You Tube has lots of great instructional info and patterns to try! Just have fun!

I have found that I need to stipple stitch on smaller quilts to get used to the foot control at just the right position for the best work.

I bought a Bernina 440 just for the stitch regulator. Don't get me wrong it is still a good machine for many other reasons, but as I got more experience in FMQ I found the stitch regulator was more trouble than it was worth. Just pratice on small quilt sandwiches, moving up to bigger pieces. Have patience and keep at it