Video Tutorial - FMQ - Tension and Speed
 

This video tutorial covers adjusting upper thread tension, hand and foot speed, and quilting on marked lines.

I am only offering my personal opinion on each topic and giving my personal opinion on the pros and cons of each method. I am not attempting to sell any individual product, nor am I paid to persuade you to use any specific product ( Anyone what would like to offer me large sums of money to do so can contact me thought *wink* )


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Thank you so much for these tutorials. You have touched upon many things that have been ignored by other tutorials on FMQ. I have just requested to follow your website.

Thank you for your reply ! I am not a professional by any means, I just have alot of ideas and thoughts LOL. This board has been such a great help to me in learning, I wanted to give back now that I felt I had something to offer in return !

I also am self taught and like your videos.
Like you, I like different colored threads in the top and bottom.
You have given me things to work on.
Thank you.

no video, what happen? Thank you for your help, michele

It might be your browser that is not letting you view it perhaps ? I am using Firefox and can see it fine.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I do believe you've found "what you're supposed to be doing" -- and you do it so well. I love your easy going, natural approach to quilting so very much. I've got you running in the background while I do the sewing I need to do for my business (not quilting) and I feel like I have a wonderful knowledgeable friend visiting with me today.

Thanks you so much for taking the time to do this for us! Very well done and easy to understand. What I really appreciate is the fact that you take the time when doing the stitching to make sure we can follow along. I have watched many video tutorials on this and the biggest pet peeve is that the person is zooming along so fast I can't follow the design path.

This was video 3? Yikes, I need to go find lesson 1 and 2. I can imagine they are both just as great as this one. I will be bookmarking these. Thanks again!

Is there sound in your videos? I went to youtube to watch them, but no sound.

Yes they all have sound with the video, both here and on YouTube. Perhaps your speakers are muted or came unplugged ?

I am so thrilled that you all seem to enjoy them. Once I finish getting my room rearranged I have some more I would like to do. Are there any topics you all would like specifically that you may be having trouble with that I might be able to help with ? I may not know everything but I am willing to share what I do !

No, they are on, and working before and after trying to view the video.

How about the technique of doing certain designs. I know everyone has their own way of teaching, for example, feathers. What I find when watching a lot of these videos is that they are stitching so fast that it is hard to kind of watch how they are stitching it or transitioning from one design to another.

Wonderful video, I am getting better at free motion but love to learn more. These are fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing and giving the rest of us different ways of getting the satisfaction we are working toward. I am signing up to follow you too. Can't tell you how much I appreciate your generousity.

Lisa

I love your videos and your website. Great stuff. Thanks. And I did get those purple things but haven't sewn the elastic on yet!!

What a wonderful way to start my day...watching your video on thread tension and quilting on marked lines.
I have enjoyed your easy going way of giving tips to have better free-motion quilting results.

I am in the beginning stage of learning how to do free-motion quilting. I laughed out loud when you said if the person you are giving a quilt to points out every curve or point that isn't perfect, then they need medication...:)
Thank you for posting the great video. Happy Quilting!

I am so glad my " teaching style " seems to be going over so well. I always seem to learn better personally when the person teaching is a friend, or family member. There is no pressure to be perfect, or use the right words, it is a casual conversation and there is laughter involved, sometimes to the point of laughing till we cry ! It is one of the reasons I really do not want to do post editing in my videos. I want you to SEE that I screw up ALOT ! If you never see the teacher make a mistake, how are you going to know how to fix it later when you make the same one ?

I liked your idea of drawing your design on to freezer paper, how do you get on when you need many copies of that same design.
I wanted to draw a design for my border but did not know how to go about it,perhaps a tutorial on multi placement of freezer paper designs
Thank you

When I need multiple copies of the same design, I just copy it multiple times. Now if it is ALOT of the same design and it is a smaller block I usually cut my freezer paper to normal printer paper size and run it through the printer on a fast draft setting ( less ink )

I also added your idea of showing how to line up multiple paper placements to the tutorial list ! Tomorrow should be a good day for me to get a couple done !

After much googling and discussion with someone who knew more avout video than I, I am hoping that those who were having trouble with the video are now able to view it as well as hear it !

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That was the answer I thought you would give. Freezer paper here is $27.95 a roll, but if I can get the design lined up onto my quilt,that is a lot better than sending it out to a LA which I don't as I can not afford the charges

Holy Moly !! I did not realize Freezer Paper was so expensive down there ! Then again I would imagine most things are. Hmmm Pounce chalk is another option that comes to mind. You would need to copy the pattern on the freezer paper like before, only sew on the lines with a long stitch length JUST the paper, no fabric, to leave holes in the paper for the pounce to mark your top through. Tho I would imagine Pounce was a pretty penny as well.

I have the pounce and yes it was expensive vbg, and I don't have great success with the pounce, I like your freezer paper idea better, I don't think my old printer would stand up to printing straight onto freezer paper but I could stack about three pages and sew the design without thread, at least I would know the design after doing this a number of times.
If you know of anyone heading this was a roll or two of freezer paper would be apperciated

I'm also using Firefox, the newest version, and can't see the video either.

Unfortunately, the only way for me to be able to ensure that everyone can view and see the videos is to upload every single format to my server, which, as you can suspect, my host provider does not care for. The other option is to upload them to a popular video sharing site ( which I HAVE done ). The trouble is the board here does not like offsite links or promotions soooooo .... please use your imagination !

Oh my gosh! New Zealand! You need to have someone mail you freezer paper from the states. Love the tutorials good information and very helpful. You can talk about thread you like what works.

Tina, Thank You for taking your time to make these videos. I went to your web site and watched several. I especially like the one on spray starch basting. 505 fumes are something I can't tolerate. The Elmer School Glue is too messy for me, so I'm going to use your spray starch method and see how it works.

Okay. I watched the first 15 minutes of your video and had to stop and come to post.

EXCELLENT JOB! Love, love, love your philosophy so far. YES! Fear is your enemy - don't let the machines intimidate you! YOU are it's master - lol. Also love your fly-in-the-face remark - if it works for you, do it! Having said that, I'm going to have to play around with stitch length now that you've said that..I don't understand HOW, mechanically, it can make a difference as I thought stitch length was determined by the feed dogs, not the speed of the needle drop, but maybe you've just taught me something very valuable! I occasionally feel the "jerky" you were talking about, and now I'm wondering if that does indeed have something to do with it. I'm going to finish your video, and as time allows find your other ones. This is exactly the kind of video I was thinking about making, so thanks for beating me to it (and probably doing it much better than I could have!).

Everything you just said , is why I make the video tutorials ! I have taken some awesome online classes, and I have watched some great instructors on some amazing programs do some wonderfully instructional videos that are very technically accurate. Want to know the one thing they all have in common, every single one of them ? They had directors, or producers, a legal department or someone " higher up the chain " that told them that they had to be " vanilla " so that they could reach a wider audience of people.

I don't have any of those ! I don't WANT any of those ! I try to keep my videos honest, and real. I do not script any of my videos, as you can probably tell from the large amount of ummm-ing that is in them LOL. I try to talk and teach what I know as if I was talking to my best friend trying to teach her how to do something ( my best friend would probably sew over her own finger just turning ON a sewing machine btw lol ). I do try really hard not to use my drunken sailor vocabulary, but other than that, I don't censor myself. If I make a mistake while recording, you see me do it ! I don't take things out LOL. You would NEVER see that happen on a professionals video LOL. My thoughts on that are , if you never see ME make the mistake, and show you how to fix it or cover it up ( applique saves EVERYTHING , its like duct tape ! ) then how are you going to know how to try and fix it when YOU make that mistake ?

I will openly and honestly tell you, if you are looking for a video tutorial that is going to show you how to make a show quilt, or how to do things the " proper " way, or how to do ANYTHING perfect ? Then my videos are NOT for you ! I will show you how to do things in ways that would make the ladies in the church quilting bee have to call for vapors ! But if it helps you understand how to do something that you could not " get your head around " or understand the way that the " vanilla " instructors have shown you, then fantastic ! I did what I set out to do.

Please do not take me as saying that those well paid and professional instructors are boring or dull. I take those online classes too, I LIKE them. I like being able to learn new things. I am just saying that those classes, have a level of stiffness to them because they are usually scripted to some extent, and they have rules they have to follow. It would be a little odd to have a a class that was sponsored by say Clover, then go on to say in your video that one of their products really sucks and you prefer this other one from another company LOL. I like having the freedom to tell you exactly what I like and don't like, and why !

And basic mechanics tells us that it should be impossible for stitch length to have any effect on your tension when your feed dogs are down right ? Well, my machines, every single one of them, must have been calibrated on some other alternate universe, because every single one of them does better when I adjust my stitch length to something they like ! Maybe it is just a mental thing and I only THINK it does better, who knows, but it works for me !

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!