sewbizgirl

Hands and brain are the most important tools in FMQ.... Only lots of practice will help you get better. I suggest practicing on small stuff before you have to wrangle a big quilt around. Placemats, hotpads, mug rugs, and then work up to baby quilts. You'll be doing great before you know it.

calicojoan

Practice practice practice. I took a class at a LQS that was worth it's weight in gold. She had us playing with fat quarter size quilt sandwiches. We started off drawing on our sandwich and tracing, graduating into finding fabrics with great designs in them and going over them, then running off the fabric swatch onto our fat quarter sandwich. That was probably when the light bulb lit for me. Drawing helps considerable. As for using the machine, you have to conquer the fear and put some speed into the foot petal. It's consistancy makes or breaks free motion quilting. I actually use my little Bernina more than my longarm now when it comes to quilting.

carolynjo

Actually, I learned by making a jacket--quilted the pieces and then put the jacket together after trimming to fit the pattern. It was not hard that way and then I quilted a queen-sized quilt.

ItsJustMe

I practiced and practiced and practiced. I then discovered the Quilt Halo, and now I think I'm where I need to be!

JenelTX

First off, I'm not answering because I'm great. I've FMQ'd two quilts so far on my Brother PQ1500S, and I'm happy with how they turned out, as long as no one looks too closely. I took Angela Walters' Craftsy class, Machine Quilting in Negative Space. That was very helpful. I also just bought her book on machine quilting. Both very useful, but they're both more about design motifs than about the actual process of FMQ. In other words, she doesn't really give advice on whether to drop feed dogs, how to maneuver the quilt, etc. It's really all about swirls and circles and pebbles and lines. I highly recommend her class, but I don't know if that's what you're looking for or not.

I'm going to follow this thread because I'd love to learn more, too!

dash2000lbs

Thks great information ... A 2013 goal ..

d.rickman

I just purchased a practise tool from LaLiLa Designs, it included gloves, white board brush the quick trainer drawing tool -
holder for pens along with training patterns (which are reuseable) and instructions. I also took a couple of the craftsy
classes, but was going through so much fabric, decided the LaLiLa Designs will be my next way to practise. You can check it out at http://www.laliladesign.com

mackenzie

I agree with calicojoan and the foot pedal....I took a class on FM and had trouble with it until the teacher told us "slow hand, fast foot." In other words, move the quilt piece slowly, but speed up the foot peda quite a bit. Wow what a difference. I never would have known. I still have some problems, but not going to give up till I conquer it and really get relaxed with it all the time, not just now and then....Good luck!!!!!

quiltingshorttimer

While I'm no expert, I do quilt smaller projects--although they seem to be growing--did a twin size spread for my DGS last Fall. I totally agree that the Leah Day videos/website is a must. I have it marked as a favorite on my computer so I can pull it up for each quilt. Also, from a class I took for Long arm quilting, I use a white board and dry erase marker to "practice" my design before I thread the machine.

I've found that using a higher # thread (a 40 or 50 wt instead of the 30 I usually piece with) and a larger needle (a 14 or 16) seems to stop the skipped stitch and thread shredding that sometimes happens.

Getting the hang of the speed is what is hardest and most important--remember that your machine should be working a bite faster than you are so that curves don't get "eyelashes", etc. And if you are tense or tired, it seems your speed gets more erratic, so take a break every once in awhile (some people recommend some wine before quilting--doesn't help me!).

The 2nd hardest thing is moving a fairly large project through the machine--having tables surrounding your machine to hold the quilt level helps some on this, but sometimes you just have to roll or squeeze the quilt in the harp space in the machine and work slowly to keep it moving without pull.

And like everyone else is saying--practice, practice, practice--even then you'll get somethings that just aren't quilt show quality--the idea about placemates or table toppers is excellent. Good luck--I've found that I like the quilting process too, and have decided to get a long arm in 2013!

SewMomma66

I just signed up for www.pileofabrics.com skill builder block of the month. There will be two blocks per month for 10 months beginning Jan 17th. Each block will focus on a different technique. This is a QAYG so there will be free motion quilting on each block. Even if you are not crazy about the completed quilt it is well worth your time to do the monthly quilting. It is FREE! Here is a link to the page: http://www.pileofabric.com/post/2012...k-of-the-month