Free Motion Quilting. Do you use a frame or not?

[Lynn K.]

I'm a little confused about terms and applications I guess. Since I'm in the very beginning stages of learning to machine quilt, I am wondering if FMQ is only on the machine bed and holding your hands like Ricky does when he demos.

Or is it also using a frame and a domestic machine (or I guess a LA) like I see with the frames like New English Quilter, or Flynn Frame?

Which do most of you do? And why?

Lynn

[Lynn K.]

Lynn, I"m in the process of learning to machine quilt as well. I bought a ream of cheap printer paper and every day for the past five days now, I have been filling about 25 sheets with drawings....doodles, stippling, feathers, just whatever. And I don't think about it, but try to do it free form like I would if I were machine quilting. I plan to use my Bernina and do it just free motion like Ricky does, with no hoop or frame. I am quite pleased with how much I see my drawings change for the better every day. I think the secret will be practice, practice and practice some more.

Dana in Olive Branch, MS where the fireworks at the park were beautiful.

[Lynn K.]

Free motion, to me, means that you're not using the feed dogs on the machine, and that there's no pattern drawn on the quilt that you're following. I'm doing it on my treadles, using Sharon Schamber's hoop with the Supreme Slider under the quilt, and also using the Magic Bobbin thingie. YMMV.

Pat in Rockport, TX

[Judy M.]

Dana, will you be using the BSR? Judy in Torrance

[Sandy F.]

I was thinking about using pieces of fabric and following the design but the paper is a great idea Dana. That will allow me to get a feel for the speed of the machine and speed I need to move the fabric.

[Teri L.]

As I learned to machine quilt I tried various ways of quilting. Since I'd been a hand quilter my thinking was way different than it is now, four or five years later.

I tend to do the same kinds of things Ricky and others do, no marking however there are times when I do need to mark and then I use the freezer paper and an empty needle technique I learned at the machine quilting class I took.

Doodle on scraps of paper to your hearts content, that will get you lots of places on your quilts. Make practice quilts with odd blocks or left over decent size pieces of fabric and practice technique on those. The more I move the fabric under the needle the better feel I have for free motion quilting.

Judy with the BSR drop the foot tension (the tension disc on the left side of the machine) and the machine tension down to at least 1.5 and that should help as well.

I don't use a frame, I don't have the space for one and I'm not sure what I would get if I did. My suspicion is that given space and cash I'd probably purchase a longarm and leave my domestic for piecing. I read recently where Libby uses her domestic, sets the settings and then turns the machine so that it's perpendicular to herself as she's quilting.

Be mindful of your posture, if your table is too high get a seat cushion and raise the foot pedal to match the height. Relax your shoulders, for the first 6 to 8 months my shoulders and ears were constant companions making any kind of machine quilting painful!

Teri

[Lynn K.]

When you say you are doodling do you mean with the machine or with a pen/paper?

Yes, I can understand how we have to give our brain something to 'look toward' with the doodle, but that doesn't solve the problem of making your machine go where your brain/hands want it to go. I have the Sharon Schamber hoop and the Supreme slider. I use feed dogs down. I have the darning foot to the 6600 Janome. Don't yet have the new FMQ foot and bobbin, but don't think that matters until I get better control.

One of the issues is that the back of the presser foot where the Accufeed is attached hits the back of the red Schamber hoop because it's low. I guess maybe this is another instance of practice, practice. I still find I have difficulty getting the fabric to move exactly where I want it to go.

This is another lesson in patience!

Thanks for all your comments.

[Lynn K.]

I began by doing the four basic shapes that Sharon Schamber shows on her beginner's free motion video. I did 3 baby quilts using those shapes, and three more charity quilts, then branched out into feathers and stuff. It really is a matter of repetition and practice. I hope to attain adequacy someday.

Pat in Rockport, TX

[Lynn K.]

Pat, is that video on Sharon's website in the members area, or on Youtube? I can't find it in the free area, but I may just not be seeing it.

[Carla G.]

Lynn,

Actually the advice I have seen more than one longarm quilter give (and domestic quilters that are good at free motion) is that by practicing with pen/pencil and paper that it does train ur hand eye coordination and that skill transfers to the actual quilting process. I think that beyond that what I struggle with is getting the smooth speed down (don't have a BSR here or the ability to have one on my machine). I have to remember to relax, breath and not try to run like a jack rabbit!

Carla

[Carla G.]

Judy, I have a Bernina 150 which is eleven years old, so I don't have a BSR. I have told myself for the past several years that I cannot machine quilt, and I have lots of reasons for it in my mind :roll: , and since I won't be getting a new machine for a while, I didn't want to wait any longer and just keep adding excuses to my list. :roll:

At retreat, Ricky did demonstrations and talked about it with such ease....of course one of the attributes of a great teacher is that they make you feel like you can certainly do it too. I thought about it a lot after I got home, and so last week I decided to work on it every day for a month and see if I improved. So this first week, I only drew designs on paper (25 pages a day), and then last night I put my first quilting on fabric. It felt very different, especially in being able to move my hands like my mind was wanting to. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but there really was a huge difference after only one week. For the first time, I feel like I can learn to do this. I know there's a lot of different ways to go about it, and I think each person has to find what's comfortable and then do it over and over and over....

And like Teri said, keep those shoulders down....I have a sticky on the front of my machine that says "Breathe" and "Keep Shoulders Down".

Dana in Olive Branch, MS

[Carla G.]

I started to play with free motion quilting 1 year ago after I got a new sewing machine.....my old 22 year old Husqvarna didnt like free motion at all :wink:
I did some practice with pencil on paper and found it very usefull, mostly because you will sew yourself into a corner no matter what pattern you are quilting. So by doing the pattern on paper I could make a plan on how to tacle that problem, or any problem, before I went on to do the free motion on my quilts.
BUT, I really do think that anyone can do the free motion if they dare to...you just have to make yourself do it. The first thing I quilted by machine was a single bedspread...I didnt like it at all so I unsew it all before starting all over again :cry: :shock: :lol:
AND, remember when you are quilting free motion you will not be able to make it look like mine does..or anyone elses eighter, its like handwriting, you will make it with your own signature.
So just go head and play, I promise you its real fun!!!! :lol:

[Carla G.]

I guess the free-motion quilting stuff is all on the paid part of Sharon Schamber's website. I had some extra $ after selling one of my sewing machines, and used part of the money to join for a year. I think it's well worth the $, but YMMV.

Pat in Rockport, TX

[Carla G.]

When I started free motion on my bernina I made some practice sandwiches with muslin and batting, about 20-25". and I quilted the heck out of them. I would practice different backgrounds, and write messages, and draw designs and stitch on them. It took alot of practice for me before I felt comfortable actually doing a quilt. (I do not have a BSR). Now when I want to try a new design I draw it out on paper or a dry erase board and practice til I feel comfortable. It's like if I can draw it, I can sew it-- trains the brain or something.

[Eileen K.]

What Teri, Dana and others are talking about is muscle memory. Moving your hand over the paper for practice is great. When you sit down(or stand) at your machine, your muscles will remember how they moved.
I can do free motion on the LA but not on my domestic. I think I'm going to learn so that I can quilt on both machines without having to take anything off in order to do my own stuff.
eileenkny