I have never machine quilted before, have only done hand quilting. I have a Viking 940 that is many years old. Is there any reason I can't try machine quilting on it? Is there anything special I need to do? I'm kinda intimidated by machine quilting since I've never done it, but would like to try. Thanks.

if you stitch in the ditch, you should have a walking foot. if you free motion quilt, you should drop or cover the feed dogs and have a hopping foot.

Yep I agree with above. I have walking foot on old singer quilting foot on old Viking! Have sewed on it but not fmq and Im scared to try!! Lol

I have an old 6570 and tried to FMQ on it but the machine sounded like it was going to break apart - really loud thumping and clanging. So I just FMQ on another machine and use that one for straight line stitching. I also have a walking foot for it and it stitches beautifully. Hopefully you will have better luck.

I have a Viking 990 that I've had for 25 years and I FMQ on it all the time. Drop the feed dogs and raise the presser foot pressure - I mean by that to back off on the presser foot pressure-but be sure to lower the presser foot while FMQing or the tension won't be right. I also have a Viking made in the 70's that I FMQ on, too.

Thank you for your replies. I think I'm going to see what I can do on a small "play" piece before I try anything "real!"

I have 2 Vikings and have machine quilted on both of them. The older one only has a walking foot so can't do stippling or curves with that one. What I didn't like about machine quilting was that the fabric would pucker up sometimes where the seams met. If I quilted close together like stippling, that worked better.... started in the middle and worked my way out. Then I tried that new spray fabric adhesive (probably not new anymore) and that solved my problem. When I put my layers together, I spray the batting and press it to the back.... then spray the other side of the batting and press it to the front. WoW!! what a difference. Now I'm going to do lots more machine quilting because it's faster. Only the very special quilts will get hand quilted..... I'm slow at that and deal with lots of back pain leaning over my frame.

I have an old Viking 980 and I use the walking foot for straight line quilting. You can also get a stitch in the ditch foot that is great! I have had success with 50wt cotton thread in both the bobbin and top.

I have an Viking 1000 and I can free motion w/darning foot or use the walking foot and do not have any problems