I did lower the foot and it helped a lot; however it then jammed on the bulkier seams. Thank you everyone for the tips - I’m off to make myself a “sandwich” and tackle that machine again.

Try making the needle go faster, then slowing down with your hands. Try to aim for 10-12 stitches per inch.

Contrary to general guidelines, some machines work better with the feeddogs up, and the stitch-length to Zero.. If all else fails, it might be worth a try?

If you tension is OK when sewing, then don't mess with your tension. Is your thread shredding and breaking with normal sewing or only FMQ? Usually thread breakage is thread hang up above your needle or your needle is not matched with your thread weight. FMQ requires a large eye needle. Also try 50 weight thread or above that. There are some quilters using 90 and 100 weight thread. I use that for machine applique. Check all along your thread path, from your spool to the guides, tug and see if you have a "hang up" as you go along your thread path. I was at a FMQ Boot Camp a few years ago. They told us to bring a 90/14 microtex needle. I put it in my machine, I got out my brand new thread spool, and my thread started shredding and then the needle broke....hit my glasses. The instructor looked at my machine and needle....she couldn't see the problem either. I looked at the thread spool (small cone from Superior) and inside the end of the cone it said what needle to use. I purchased it from the shop where the class was and I was off and FMQ.....learned a valuable lesson that day. Match your needle to your thread. Of course, you would match a needle size to denim and leather use. In this case the Microtex needle worked for everyone except my thread. The Mictrotex needle has a sharp point, so less drag on the fabric. Practice with new needles and 50 weight thread or higher and see if that helps. Best wishes in getting the FMQ and ruler use tackled.....just takes practice.

I had the same problem until I tried isocord poly thread. Made a world of difference. I use also in the bobbin with 12 microtex needle on my janome 8900. Hope this helps. I had tried all different kinds of thread.

Yep, the best thing to do when all goes wrong is to get up and get away from the project for a while. I used to find that when something went wrong, it was like I had blinders on and all I could see was the problem before me and nothing else. I would work at to total frustration, now I finally learned to step away - just step away - and when I come back it is like something changed in the universe and the problem seems to fix itself.

Of course, my favorite thing to do when I step away is to eat something - a behavior I am trying to delete from my programming. On the other hand, when I get in the zone of quilting, I find that I forget to eat.

When I quilt on my DSM, a Brother Nouvelle 1500, I have to use a size 16 needle. Anything smaller just will not work.

I use "Permacore" by A&E for my Gammill. Never have had a problem in 14 years. I am using it in my dsm if doing a small quilt.
Yes a bigger eye needle really makes a difference.
If you don't want to pay the price for supreme slider buy a 'snow carpet. I read about them on here and they are just a few dollars.

I have been very interested in reading all these comments. I bought some quilting rulers at the Houston Quilt Festival show last year and have yet to use them. This year I am taking a class on using them and am excited about that. I am saving a copy of everyone's comments to refer back to if (when) I have this problem.