Thanks for all the advice everyone. The foot was definitely down (I even went away and came back to it later in case I was doing anything silly!). Same with the feed dogs.

I haven’t changed the pressure of the foot (just left it on auto) at all - I’ve never had that option before so I will look at that.

rryder and Patrice - I disnt realise I could change the height of the foot either so I will definitely look at that first.


I am determined to work out the floating floot as I am getting quite good on the hopping foot now (but I think the floating will be so much quieter!) I will find a way to conquer it this weekend...

On my Janome MC 9400 I have to tell it which fmq foot I am using. Is there a setting on your machine like that?

as someone else mentioned the janome purple needle is your best choice for fmq.

I don’t think there is a particular setting Janine - I certainly didn’t read it in the manual but will double check! I already have a purple needle in the machine as that’s what it came loaded with.

Are you using the single stitch throat plate? Is your spool of thread vertical or horizontal? I hope you get it sorted. The floating foot is nice to work with when it works properly.

Janie I’ve got the general plate on (not the straight stitch) and I am using vertical thread on a stand as the Janome can only manage tiny reels horizontally