quiltsRfun

Check out this site for walking foot designs. 31 Days of Walking Foot Quilting.

http://blog.petitdesignco.com/2012/1...-quilting.html

quiltedsunshine

Free-motion is hard to do! Rulers and stencils have really helped my quilting. And yes! some of my best quilting was with a walking foot. Keep at it. You'll get better and learn what works best for you.

sewbizgirl

I would suggest you quilt more simply on your quilts, until you feel more confident about your FMQ. In the mean time you can practice your FMQ on some small quilt practice sandwiches. A teacher I had once said it's more important to practice 10 or 15 minutes a day, than hour long sessions just once in a while. Consistency will help you improve faster than anything.

Ten quilts is not a lot! Give yourself some time to improve. I can tell the "want to" is there.

JanieW

I agree with those who have said that lots of practice is necessary to develop quilting skills. However, you need to know what you are practising. There’s so much to learn about how to co ordinate the speed of your needle with hand speed of moving the quilt when you are fmq ing on a domestic. Then you need to know about pausing your hands while the needle is still going to make points, don’t pause if you want curves, where to stop to relocate your hands to make a smooth transition, etc. , etc.

Watch some YouTube videos. Doodle your designs on paper to get muscle memory before you stitch. Start with small sandwiches so you don’t have to wrestle with a big quilt and you can get the feel of the motion easily. When you feel ready to work on a bigger quilt make sure your quilt has lots of support so that the weight of it doesn’t interfere with you moving it around under your machine.

If you can do a little bit ( 15 minutes) each day you will build your skill level.when you can’t do it on your machine doodle on paper when you’re on the phone or watching TV or having a cuppa. Do what you can and don’t beat yourself up. I’m self taught and went through a lot of frustration before I did what I have mentioned. I’m not perfect but I’m pleased with my accomplishment.

You can do this.

FWLover

I was taught how to do feathers by first practicing them with a pencil on paper...over and over again. Probably 100 times or more. It helps your mind create a permanent picture in your head so it will transfer to what you do with your hands more easily, naturally and quickly. I think it was good use of my time.

Moira in N.E. England

I feel the same way as you. I now stick to straight lines.

QuiltnNan

I've been 'practicing' for years LOL All of a sudden, one day, it started to look decent. I had always tried to meander/stipple and have never been successful. I tried a loopy 3 leaves that I saw a friend do, and it worked! So try something different if what you are doing doesn't look good to you.

Watson

The two best pieces of advice I got on learning FMQ were to set your pedal speed where it is comfortable, so you don't have to worry about both your hand and pedal speed at the same time in order to keep your stitches looking good and to pick one motif and practice it until you can do it in your sleep.
I picked Paisley, which eventually led into feathers, which led into spirals, etc....Meander is also a good place to start.
Leah Day has a very good video on how to do meander.

Watson

Mkotch

I find FMQ stressful so now am almost exclusively doing walking foot quilting. I love the book with that title by Leah Day. Jaquie Gering (sp?) also has some good books on the subject. Both have online classes, too. These raised my confidence quite a bit.

juliasb

It takes time to use the 1500 Brothers. Are you using a stitch regulator? With the stitch regulator you can go very slowly to match your skills to the timing.
Taking some practice pieces is the biggest help you can do. Sandwich some pieces as a quilt and just practice your FMQ and play with some designs. You can even quilt over what you have done since it is only a practice piece. Learn your hand to eye coordination with the machine and let your hands move freely. This will help you to discover if your quilt is to tight on the frame or if the quilt is to high or low on the frame and so much more.
Another thing is thread. Good thread makes for better quilting with the 1500. I use Glide threads. It is smooth and very strong. Few breaks and easier quilting. Just a few thoughts.