your machine might be like one of mine and it came with a plastic piece that snaps over the feed dogs.

A lady after my own heart with the scraps for Animal Shelter dogs, I save all my scrap material, thread and whatever doesn't go in my bins, then make dog blankets and stuff them with the scraps, the animal shelters love them and all the ladies from my quilting class do the same...

I practice on Community quilts, those are given away to kids in need. Any quilting and batting scraps are saved for our guild's annual Dog Bed Day. We all get together one day in August and chop up the pieces we've all been collecting. Then we make fabric bags of all sizes and stuff them with the soft fluffy scraps for our local animal shelter.

It's called a darning foot on my Janome. Have you gone online to find the owners manual? It shouldn't be too hard :)
Just like Newestnana, I too purchased a Brother at Costco. When I wore it out in just 13 months, I bought my Janome 760, and all the feet from the Brother fit it! Yay!

Don't throw them away! Make potholders. I have a couple of whole cloth panels to practice on too!

A teacher and very good FM quilter in our guild took a class in Houston. They told them to use felt. It is cheap and about the right thickness and comes in many colors so you can see the trheads too. I have done this and she is right. However I still can't draw anything. I can't draw anything with a pencil so how can I draw anything with a sewing machine.

I recently started making quilted burping pads and use them to practice free motion quilting. It works great and babies sure don't care how it looks!!

Under new thinking of quilters.....you do not have to drop the feed dogs and you do not have to do anything special for this to work. The foot you need is called a daring foot. It has a spring on it that allows the foot to move smoothly over the fabric. If you can put your motor at half speed this can help. Always sew with needle down. That's just a few tips.

Hi, I am an experienced sewer but find fmq difficult. I finally bit the bullet and attempted to quilt an appliqued penguin quilt that I made for my grandson......It looked very simple! Not. I worked very hard and was not at all pleased with how the quilting looked on the back: I had knots. crooked lines etc. Just terrible (in my estimation) Just before I tossed it in the trash I had a light bulb moment. I saved the day by adding another backing fabric. I pinned wrong sides together and stitched 3 sides, turned it wrong side out, closed the fourth side and topstitched the edge. At least it was neat. It did take a bit of time to make it tight enough but it works. Whew??? I guess the answer is to just keep practicing even on a small quilt and bag it if necessary. Good luck

Sorry..................I meant to say I turned it right side out!

I did all my practicing on Linus quilts. The stitching wasn't that bad and the little ones sure don't care.

Pot holders are great to practice on because no matter what you end up with, it still is useful

I practice before every quilting session. Have some scraps all made into sandwiches in a pile. Then I make potholders out of them. I find that quilting just a minute or so gets me into the "swing" of things, and my quilting looks so much better.

If you need the manual, it's often available online at the Brothers' site.

If you plan to do a lot of free motion quilting, there are a couple of handy items out there you might like to know about. One is the quilt halo, which really helps you move the fabric about without tiring yourself as much. The other is a plastic type sheet that goes under the fabric and doesn't grab the fabric so much, it is very slippery and I found that the two items work really well. If you are not able to drop the feed dogs on your machine, you may be able to get a feed dog cover plate for your machine. You didn't mention how old or new it is. A lot of the newer machines come with a quilting foot which is a round "foot" like a donut, and doesnt impede the moving about of the fabric. :D

I buy inexpensive fabric and make throws or lap quilt size. When finished I bind and use to cuddle up with on cold winter evenings and or we camp so I have several to take camping.

Check on e-bay quite a few dealers out there with tons of different sewing feet they also state the different machines the feet are for. Best find out the model if it is a low or high shank. Also check on the site Brother Machines you may also be able to find an inst. manual.

Many years ago, I had a box of fabric given to me. Much of it is only good for practicing on. I made a twin-sized quilt, using 2 of those pukey-looking fabrics for the top and backing (+ a new batting). It gives me a lot of "quilt" to practice on and, for me, it's better than using a bunch of scrap pieces.

Have you seen this blog?

http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

She shows a different free motion design each day. When you look at her blog, go to her posting of July 8th. She has different designs on different colored blocks, I think it would make a great wall hanging.

Recently I discovered 'Zentangles' and I've been doing them in thread on fabric for fabric postcards....it is great practice.

I've become addicted to making them. Now I need to move to a larger block size

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

Hi

I make little cosmetic purses from the practice bits. They make lovely little pressies!

Old mattress pads are perfect for practice! :D

I bind them and then donate them to my local church group where they are used in a nursery setting. I suppose a daycare could also use them.

I practice on scraps.

I go to quilting classes at the local adult school. The teacher gave us sheets of paper with different designs. She told us to use an old needle and sew over the papers to practice (no thread). It's kind of hard to move the paper around. You're supposed to hold your fingers spread out over the paper as if it is fabric but you have to pick the paper up between your fingers to get it going. Then after practicing a couple of weeks we copied the designs on fabric then made a fabric sandwich. We used different colored thread for the bobbin and top thread so we could see our stitches. I'm still practicing but still doing stich in the ditch. One of these days .....

you may be able to download an instruction book for your sewing machine on the manufacturers site on the web - I dont know anything about fmq either

A woman from my quilt guild gave a great tip for fmq - make small practice sandwiches with the leftovers from your project. Set your stitch length and tension until you get the stitch you want. Practice your stitching on the sandwich to see the stitching. Then with a fabric marker - write the tension and stitch length on the sandwich. If you are continuously changing your dials it will be easy to duplicate the stitch. I always think I can remember but it is not always the case. When I have practiced to death my sandwiches I usually put another piece of fabric on top until I have my stitch perfected. Saves fabric and batting!

When I needed to practice some quilting I made seat mats for the car. I have leather seats and in the summer I wear shorts and I really hate being stuck to the seats so I made a quilted, bound square for my seat. My granddaughter calls it "the butt thing," LOL. She wants me to make her one too. I need to practice free motion on my new machine anyway.

I spent part of last Sunday practicing FMQ too. Now I wish I had made my practice pcs. larger to make them into something. I finally gave upon the scraps & got out a tablerunner I made a few yrs. back but used a higher loft batting so I didn't really like it. I FMQ the heck out of it & I got so excited & did the whole runner. I was so happy with the freedom I felt once I saw the outcome. Now I won't be so afraid of it anymore.

Prob. I had though was if I wanted to go faster, instead of remembering to move the fabric myself, I'd speed up the machine. I am so proud of myself.

No, not a walking foot. The foot has a round circle (mine is a clear plastic) on it that the needle goes through & it also has a spring. I think they're also called darning foot. I'm sure others could explain it better.

i used black fabric top & bottom & then used varigated threads in each family member's favorite color. after i practiced, i cut them to fit my dining room chairs. after i put the binding on, free chairpads!

Sometime the darning foot is known as embroidery foot. In the olden days u used no foot at all for darning/embroidery. Just a needle and watch fingers. My friend managed to sew herself to the sewing machine years ago and I purchased a foot soon after, as I was the one having to remove needle from finger and I'm pathetic if it comes to other peoples blood. :thumbdown:

My first long piece of practice was the size of a twin bed and I did not want to throw it away so I put a binding around it, four pieces of elastic to the four corners and use it under my sheets on the twin bed. The second practice piece was the size of a lap or throw and granddaughters also practiced on it by signing their names in stitches. It is now a prized throw that they fight over when they spend the night. Now when I practice complicated stitches, I cut out a 12" sectionand plan to put them together for a quilt called "Practice makes perfect". Never waste around here.
doglover.

It is not dumb to admit that there is something you don't understand. This is how we learn. The foot used in free motion quilting is like a darning foot or what is called a big foot, similar to a darning foot but with a larger surface on the quilt. Free motion quilting is done with the feed dogs down and you move the fabric around with your hands.

Great Idea!

Contact your local brother dealer and they can probably get you an instruction book.