Oh! My machine does this!
 

Silly me....I decided to get serious and learn to free motion on my current sewing machine. I have been yearning for a new machine but for now, i think I need to explore what mine is capable of doing. So, opi set it up for FMQ and played with the tension. I am very pleased with the quality of the stitches. Now I need to practice practice practice! Trying to stretch my abilities; learn new techniques.

So, what are YOU working toward?

Sandy

Sounds like you are doing well!!! I love to try to keep myself learning new things and improving on the old!!!!

I've got FMQ, but am working on machine applique that I can live with. I love needle turn, cannot abide fusible, and hope to get to a place where I'm happy with a machine technique for quick or heavy use projects.

Yeah, I'm another one working on FMQ...or rather PLANNING to work on FMQ!!
I have sandwiches made....20 (7 or 8") squares, sitting on my little table....fabric/batting/backing, with a few pins to keep the layers stable. They have been siitting there for over a week and I still haven't gotten up enough nerve to start.
Isn't that crazy!!

I've actually traded down during this weekend. I decided that my old Husqvarna Automatic (which has been passed down from my mother) from 1961 is perfect for FMQ. I'm doing most of the Leah Day tutorials on youtube and it quickly improves my skill.

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I was looking at stitches to do my binding and pushed #24 on mine and it looked like a quilting stitch but said to lower my feed dogs. I will have to figure that one out later.

I'm working on doing trapunto with yarn to a little wholecloth I did a few years back. Don't know if my arthritic hands are going to do much this way. Will learn the machine method later.

I must admit, I tried free motion quilting and am a complete failure! I have watched videos, studied tutorials, and am missing something because I don't get it. I have no control and even practicing I can't get the stitches to be even! Makes me sad.

What is Trapunto? Don't mean to sound stupid. I've heard it mentioned many times, but no explanations. Thanks to anyone who explains it to me. Jeanne

I need to work on my FMQ. I do fine on a sandwich, but trying to FMQ even a small quilt just does not work. I can't co-ordinate my hand speed with machine speed. I have practiced, but it just doesn't seem to improve at all. :thumbdown:

I am working on FMQ also. Trying to do the Leah Day class on Craftsy and also just took some classes from Pam Clarke. She is great and I do much better in the class room then on the discipline to sit down and make time for Craftsy classes.

Also trying to improve my needle turn applique.

Instead of trying to make the little stipples try doing a large stipple. You can always refine it once you can do the larger size. I do a large stipple, just can't get the hang of the small ones. I really like the large stipple better than the small. I don't care for heavy quilting on my quilts. Looks great on other, just MHO.

i am still trying to master binding. I have such a "time" when I do corners.

Marilee

Jeanne,

Although i have never done it I do have a friend who wants to teach me.

HERE is a link to a gorgeous quilt.


Traunto is where you "stuff" extra batting/filling into a design and quilt around
the design to give the look of "puffiness".

marilee, me too! I get in a hurry to finish...my corners suffer!
sandy

Ladies,

I struggled with corners for a long time. Check out the Articles on the QB Articles section. I promise it will help you.

Jeanette Frantz

I have had my viking for 6 years snd just discovered I have a new machine in my machine. I am getting excited to try FMQ with mine plus add embroidery to some of my quilts plus all of the feet that I have discovered. It helps when you read and look at you books that come with your machine. :)

Lovely stitching Mariatherese from Sweden

For the ladies who are having trouble with binding. This has very helpful photos.

wendysknitch.wordpress.com/.../tutorial-quilt-binding-with-mitered-corners

I hope this will help you. Happy binding.

Sorry about link - you will need to type it into your search engine.

HAHAHAHA only a week? I had to put my pile of 14" muslin sandwiches out in the hall because ran out of room in the quilting lab. Forgot all about 'em! Monthls later, finished another quilt, now having to dread FMQ again. What is it about PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE I don't understand???

Meanwhile took up hand embroidery and am practicing quilt labels with it, and did my first machine raw-edge applique.

Something about FMQ...too many variables in the materials and equipment? Too hard to correct mistakes with seam ripper? Too hard to live with mistakes I can't rip out? I can't relax enough, maybe? The machine, finally set up, is going smoothly and suddenly... what is that mysterious little tug? Oops my curve is now flat. Did I twitch? BAH!!! I even hate practicing it. :(

Oops sorry didn't mean to turn this into a diatribe on FMQ. Boy I must have been brooding about it in the back of my mind ...

Love your machine...and you are doing great with the FMQing! Just keep it up and soon you'll be an expert.

Wow! I haven't tried FMQ, one of these days. I'm still trying to do SID. LOL

I have a Janome MC9700 and have FMQ'd 2 wall hangings and 2 lap quilts. I don't lower the feed dogs because I can't seem to move the quilt sandwich as much as I want. It seems to do great (for what I know about FMQ). I am going to post my pictures in the picture section hopefully today. I have never FMQ before. Mind you it is not a great job and I mostly meander or just use a vine, etc. But that is ok since I am just getting started!! Hope to do other patterns as I learn!! As my sweet 95 year old neighbor says, "You will never notice it on a galloping horse"! The one suggestion I have, as a beginner, is to be sure your have basted your quilt good and work from the middle out....I do have a few boo-boos but then I think about my saying!

[QUOTE=katesnanna;6412880]For the ladies who are having trouble with binding. This has very helpful photos.

wendysknitch.wordpress.com/.../tutorial-quilt-binding-with-mitered-corners

I hope this will help you. Happy binding.

I know how to do it; my fingers just don't cooperate. :thumbdown: I've started glue basting the binding and it is easier for me.

Your "practice" is beautiful. If I could do that, I would be so happy.

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I have tried free motion quilting. It will take more practice, or playing with it to get good at it. I have out lined a quilted place mat of a deer. Have not tried anything else, yet. Got a book on it though. Maybe just draw lines and follow them for practice, make it fun. Maybe change the color of thread and make a picture?

I am about to freemotion my third quilt I have ever made, and it's a really ambitious project. I have the plan all sketched...including feathers on the border, and 4 other designs within the quilt. I am so excited to do it!! I have Craftsy classes to thank for the motvation-they have the best classes! I did my last quilt with bubbles and another design on the border and was happy(for a first timer). Since I am new at quilting, I have found that the quilting is much more creative than the piecing. I get bored with the repetitiveness. I encourage you all to try it!!! Drawing on practice paper is definitely the key!

Another FMQ here. I used the Golden Threads tissue paper, traced my pumpkin design - over and over and over! - Then taped it onto my border & quilted it. I was pleased with how it turned out. Need to keep practicing!

When I took a class from Sue Nickels, I learned to sloooow down. Hands & machine need to be at the same speed. It is okay to go slow!

Hi Sandy :c)

I actually went and took my first FMQ class this past Saturday! It was a LOT of fun! It amazed me that the one thing that looked the simplest (stippling) was the one thing I had the most problem with! By the end of the class, I had gotten pretty good at writing my name though. She said that was the best thing to start with since we all already knew how to write it. Seemed logical. LOL! I'm going to practice, practice, practice before I actually start on a real quilt, but I LOVED it! :c)

I'm also working on trying to get my fabric organized. I got three HUGE tote bags full of fabric wrapped on comic book boards to put in my shelves, I've gotten pieces of fabric that were big enough cut into fat quarters, and next on my list is to go through the scraps I have left from that and cut them into 10 1/2", 8 1/2", 5 1/2", 3 1/2", and 2 1/2" squares. May leave some in strips if they seem long enough to do anything with. I'm going to put in a different storage system after I get my taxes back, and have to get everything ready to organize when the time comes. Gotta do some Christmas presents as well!

Donna

Love your machine.

I first tried FMQ on pot holders but found that to be too small.......so then I did a larger thing......place mats. That was much better thing to practice on........I had read that you could just make big S"s and that worked pretty well. I think you really have to have a foot that you can see through because you have to be able to see where you are going. I find it easier to start on an edge,,,,,sometimes I sew my self into a dead end..when that happens, I go off the edge./...than i can start over at another spot. Dont go too fast, it seems to be easier to me to go slower......and the gloves really help too, it keeps better control of your fabric. I think the main thing is doing it over and over until it becomes more comfortable.....you can always sew all those practice pieces together and make a dog bed for your dog, or for your local animal rescue organaization.

What I have been focused on lately, is trying to be accurate. Good points, 1/4" seams, and so on. You'd think I would have addressed this previously!

I have been watching many tutorials and even sitting in on classes in FMQ. It is my opinion that most of these teach patterns and not the basics of FMQ. One must learn the basics first to be really successful

Holice, you've once again hit the nail on the head - I've been to at least three FMQ classes at LQS, two by locally respected quilters. I've watched Leah Day and Missouri Quilt Co and others. I've also studied books by Hargreaves and Gaudinski and a couple others. I know the fabric, thread and needle combinations, I've been shown half a dozen ways to get patterns onto a quilt to sew/trace, I've got the right feet and the machine lined up and the gloves on...but I just can't execute what I want to so I end up "doodling" freehand.

Am I somehow missing the basics? I learned precision piecing from Sally Collins books, but who is going to teach me to FMQ?

How slow? I've always been told to rev up the machine and go fast until you stop. Slow like stitching a curve of applique?

Try stacking several layers of paper together with the design drawn on the top one. Using your sewing machine with no thread and a large needle, sew through all these layers. This will mark all the ones in the stack with perforations.

It also used to be called "snip and stuff" if that helps? Karen McTavish does a lot of it.

Absolutely true. I find that a lot of grade one work is good for getting the hang of it - lots of handwritten letters: s, l, e, i, o etc. Try zig zags, and boxes. Then move on to combining these shapes together. This gives you a really good feel for how the machine and you work together. I mentioned in another thread that I've just come off 3 days of classes with Jamie Wallen.

He said:

• that anything you can draw with an artist's pencil, you can quilt.
• 30 minutes of "quilt on paper" practice a day.
• (a little more appropriate for the longarm, but still works for a domestic machine) when you go to her, say, "Oh! You're (just) a pencil! " - your brain doesn't distinguish between the movements with a pencil and a machine.

My suggestions:

Practice drawing what you like to draw. You'll build the muscle memory and quilt it easier. For instance, one of the most natural things for you to write is your name. Try it. I didn't think I could, but I did and it was legible first try.

Trace continuous line designs you like with a finger or a pencil. Over and over again. When you sit down (or stand) at the machine, it will feel natural - and look better than it did on paper.

Wow!! that is awesome. Keep up the good work.