FMQ woes!

I also have had all the same problems that you all have mentioned but have finally gotten better. Some things I have learned from all my practice.....I don't do stencils shapes as well as gentle wavy lines or even rows of loose zigzags. When I have a quilt that is made up of rectangles or squares, I quilt each shape as if it is a mini quilt. I like the look of long snakes of gentle curving lines. It is easier to do stems with leaves than detailed shapes. I,too, have wanted to quilt stenciled designs but it has not worked so well because a free flowing shape is easier to FMQ than following a drawn line. As everyone says, keep on practicing.

Brenda

Problem solved, it was the thread. I was using 100% cotton machine quilting thread from Coats & Clark; switched to an all purpose thread and now I can FMQ like nobody's business again. Too little, too late. But now I can finish it once and for all. Lesson learned.

Boy do I know what you mean! I have done that same thing! Works fine on the practice piece but not on the quilt. I think alot of that is simply you are dealing with a smaller piece to move around and not all that weight of the quilt. I know I do great on the piece! But with practice, you get better. My problem.. I was doing pretty good, and then got sick of quilting so I started making other things and just last week went back to quilting...and FMQ'ing and there the problem started! Only this time was with the thread breaking for no apparent reason. But the key is keeping hands and quilt moving equally..which is hard with the big bulk of the quilt. Keep practicing... it is worth it!

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Originally Posted by Lisapc

I struggled with eyelashes, uneven stitches and more for months and then one day I tried to quilt with the feed dogs up and it worked great. I still have uneven stitches, a lot frankly but I am very happy with where my quilting is now compared to where I started. I am not even close to good yet but I am far more comfortable than I used to be following a pattern.

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Do you set your stitch length to 0 with the feed dogs up? When I try to FMQ on my small machine I get a lot of eyelashing with the feed dogs down.

So now that I can FMQ without the thread breaking, I went back to my machine to do some more. I totally forgot to change any of the settings (my feed dogs are down) and my stitches look awesome. The default stitch length is 2.5 which seem to work great if I leave my speed control in the middle and move quickly. If I dilly dally, the stitches become real small. I have over half the quilt done now; I was hoping to start sewing the binding on it this evening. But I don't think that going to happen for another day or so. Cooking and laundry are calling my name.

I thought I had my problems solved, still trying to finish my Iron Quilt. I have about 2/3 done, but now my thread keeps jamming underneath the quilt as I try to FMQ. I already bent one needle this morning and replaced it. Was working well, but now the jamming starts every few inches. I have to stop, try to pull up on the quilt, get the seam ripper under there to cut through the rat's nest of thread, rip out stitches, restart. Then have to stop again when it jams again in couple of inches. I tried to tape a piece of cardboard to my needle plate, but the jam is right where the needle is going in. This is never going to get done. :icon_neutral:

Try to re-thread your upper thread and see if that helps.

I have found that if I leave my feeddogs up, I get a better stitch as well. It just gives the quilt a little nudge. I love FMQ!

Seems the problem was the needle I put in wasn't strong enough, so it kept getting hung up on the thicker seams. I changed it out to a regular machine needle (not a quilting needle) and now I am chugging along. I've got just a little bit more on the bottom row to go. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

I was getting on quite well then I had a break for a few weeks and I've slipped right back. Practise, Practise, Practise - its the only way. Keep a few 'sandwiches' by your machine and try to do some at least once a week!