PaperPrincess

I found a wavy line much easier to manage when I first started quilting. You probably could do it without a walking foot, but it would be soooo much easier with one. I also would purchase a name brand one for your machine. There are generic ones out there, but they are usually much flimsier than the one made by a sewing machine company. Spendy, but worth it.
I think your auntie should buy it for you as it's her fault you need one!

carrieg

I would use a walking foot. There are feed dogs on it which combined with the feed dogs on the machine help move the fabric evenly. That way the feed dogs grip both the top and the bottom.

MadQuilter

If you don't have a walking foot, try it without. Set the stitch length a little higher and go slow. Keep your hands on either side of the foot and you should be OK. Quite a few quilters don't use the walking foot.

maminstl

I recently did a quilt with just what I would call undulating lines - all one direction. I struggled with the walking foot as it prefers to go straight- could not manage the quilt at all with FMQ, so ended up just using my regular sewing foot - It turned out to be the right tool for the job. I also spray baste and had no problems with anything shifting or bunching up. I did not, however, cross any lines.

charp

Thanks everyone. I think I'll look into getting a walking foot, and TRY not to touch this top until then! LOL

Jakers1

I attend a quilting class and we just discussed free motion quilting. The feed dogs should be dropped, as noted before, and a darning foot used. The teacher also said to take 2 pieces of muslin and sandwich it with batting to practice a bit. It made sense to me, though I do not intend to do it for a while - too many other things to finish.

maviskw

I think a walking foot is not what you need for this job. A walking foot is good for going straight, but if you want to make wavy lines, you would want to move the fabric from side to side, not turn the quilt as you change directions. You would want a darning foot with the feed dogs down so you could move the fabric easier from side to side, or wherever you want it.
I did the wavy line thing across the seam lines a long time ago. Just moved the quilt from side to side, making the loops from one inch to about four inches wide. I used latex gloves to get "sticky fingers" to do that. Still like that quilt.

craftygater

When using painters tape was mentioned for making lines,,,has anyone seen the new painters Frog Tape? I is not straight but one has a gentle snake curve (wavy line or rounded zigzag), one is zigzag and .....I forget that the third is. These would make good "lines" to follow if you don't want just straight lines. The one with the snake or rounded zigzag would give you the gentle meandering lines by just sewing down each side of the tape before moving it over. You could also stagger the curves so instead of lining up the curves shift them for different designs. The zigzags you could make squares or diamonds.

KathyJ

When I FMQ on my domestic machine, I leave the feed dogs UP, set the stitch length to 0, & slow the machine down. Works for me. The feed dogs up give a little more control but the stitch length & slow speed allow the free motion part.

Calran

Here is an article that may help you with a walking foot
http://blog.petitdesignco.com/2012/1...-quilting.html