citruscountyquilter

I always stop in the needle down position and then when I start up again I don't move my fabric so basically I'm stitching in the same place again. After this I then move my fabric to start quilting. I found this greatly reduces that first stitch after stopping and rearranging from jumping where I don't want it to go.

Another thing that really helped me was using the speed control on my machine to set the speed and then I could just press on the foot pedal and go and I only had to worry about the speed that my hands moved the fabric. I have a sweet spot for me on the speed control that I've made a note of. If you don't have a speed control switch on your machine then you have to control the speed with your foot by how hard you press on the foot pedal which is certainly doable because I did it before I got my new machine but it's just easier if you don't have to worry about the speed and concentrate on just moving your hands.

Pennyhal

Not any one method works for everyone. I found that having my feed dogs up works best for me.

carol45

I leave the feed dogs in place and don't change the stitch length--I use a FMQ foot which means there's no pressure on the feed dogs (on my machine anyway). If you're moving the fabric, then you're determining how big the stitches are--the stitch length shouldn't matter. That's the way it seems to me anyway, but it could be that the tension is affected somehow; I don't know--it doesn't seem to be on my machine--Brother Innovis 4000D.

My time

I spent the afternoon practicing my free motion quilting . Do you know what I've come up with?? I need more practice! Thank you for all your tips. This quilt board is so helpful.

copycat

Way to go and start to finish those Ufo"s! Leah Day is a wonderful free-motion quilt teacher online. She teaches to keep the feed dogs up so that is what I do! I am happy you are having fun. I am a beginner also. Happy Free-Motioning!

JoantheQuilter

I believe I read on her site that she clips out a space on the supreme slider to fit over the feed dog area. I also FMQ with the feed dogs up, use a 'slippery' product for the fabric to glide over, and cut out an area for the feed dogs. Leah has some wonderful tips and hints for free motion quilting and I find they are all so useful. Love to FMQ now...one of my favorite parts of quilting.

peacequiltingnana

Three things have helped me become better at FMQ. Keeping the feed dogs up (against the machine manufacturer's directions and my local quilt shop's directions), wearing gloves and setting the speed of the machine at medium. I don't know why it works but it does!

Leesewzany

I'm not sure about the washing, but you are getting varying stitch lengths because you are varying your speed. For ME going full blast helps maintain an autonomous stitch length.
Also someone mention the thread moving an inch when stopping. I recently bought a machine with an automatic needle down feature, and this made that problem disappear.

madamekelly

Since the feed dogs are only moving up and down, it should not do any damage to any slider. Kind of like poking a window won't break usually break it.

Stitchnripper

i do the same thing. I don't think there is one correct way. It is a lot of playing around and experimenting on what works best.