I am new at machine quilting and have 2 questions.

1) The top is to be pinned to the leader cloth on the front bar (I call it a belly bar). How do you keep from stitching it to the leader cloth??? Needless to say, today's attempt resulted in LOTS of ripping out of stitching :thumbdown:

2) This machine is 2nd hand. It has a stitch regulator attached. It's my understanding that the stitches would all be regular in size (hence the name)....however, mine are still large and small.......I try to be even with my speed, but still............:thumbdown:

Thanks for ALL the help I've gotten on this forum, too! :thumbup:

hopefully this might help with your first question, i come across it last night. might be different to how your set up is, but it might work alright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i-Sg...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ9_zV9PKmA&NR=1

its in 2 parts, hope it helps

If you haven't already, you might want to join the homequiltingsystems group at http://groups.yahoo.com . Someone there should be able to help.

Thank you -- I'll check both out!

Something to be aware of is the speed of your movements. It is possible to move the carriage faster than the stitch regulator can handle, resulting in uneven stitches. Slow down, when coming to points in quilt patterns or drastic changes in direction. Also, make certain your tracks are clean, even and level. Many stitch regulators use encoder wheels, which ride on the same tracks your machine carriage runs on. Irregularities and unevenness in the tracks can cause skipped stitches.