Newbie's Guide to FMQ- Part 3

Ok, time for part three of the FMQ series.  Today we're going to talk a lot about getting yourself prepared.  First off: ergonomics. 

You always ways your shoulders to be at their natural height.  Sit too low and you can get neck pain, sore shoulders, and even numbness in your fingers.  Sit too high and your lower back will be strained...not to mention it will create terrible posture.  Ideally my table would be cut out for my machine, but it's an old farm table from my husband's family and I'm not altering it.  Our solution was to buy a chair that adjusts.  The only drawback is that I get thread caught in the wheels (and sometimes cords).

I have a personal theory about FMQ...I've noticed that Type B personalities like myself tend to like it more than Type A personalities.  I think it's because we are relaxed to begin with and we're not worried about perfection so we tend to try new things and practice skills that we aren't perfect at.  I could be wrong.  I definitely think being relaxed helps.  Put on some music, wait til the kids are in bed, or stretch your muscles a bit.  I've heard some people drink wine to get relaxed, but I wouldn't personally do that.  I've FMQ when I was tired before and I put the needle straight through my finger.  Have you ever had to pull a length of thread through YOUR finger?  Yeah, it's not something I want to repeat.

Give yourself a break...My limit is 1 bobbin at a time.  I keep my machine in "needle down" position and I stop when I notice I'm getting sloppier or if I start experiencing any pain.  When you start getting tired, it is really tempting to start making your motif bigger just to finish more quickly.  You end up with a quilt that has weird, uneven texture.

Clean off your desk...I recently tried to turn my table into a cutting station, too.  Big mistake.  I started getting loops on the bottom of fabric.  I checked all the usual suspects and realized after lots of reading that my tension was off because my machine wasn't level.  Besides, you need all the room you can to rest your quilt on so you're not tugging or creating extra drag.

PRACTICE!  Here you see a practice sandwich.  Unfortunately, free motion quilting isn't like riding a bike.  You can get very rusty.  It helps to practice if it has been a while.  This is also a great time to try out new motifs.  To get started on your practice sandwich, Pull your thread to the side with the FMQ foot down. 

Press the "needle down" or lower the needle to the bobbin manually with your hand wheel on the right side of the machine.  .

Lift the needle while still holding the upper thread.  It will pull up your bobbin thread, too.

Now pull your bobbin thread and top thread to one side (together).  This is sometimes called grabbing the tails. 

Now press the needle down button.  You can rock the needle back and forth 1-2 times to secure the stitch.  Then tie your 2 threads into a knot (twice) and trim off the leftovers.  This will keep you from getting ugly nests on the back.

You can use quilting gloves or "machingers" to give you a little more grip.  I can't stand wearing gloves.  An alternative is using "no slip" shelf liner cut to the size of your hands.  I actually just prefer using my bare hands.

And just start practicing. 

If you're unsure about what needle  tension works best, you can take 2 different colored threads (the same weight and brand!) and do a tension guide.  First make sure your bobbin tension is correct.  Mark off an area for each tension setting (I only have 1,2,3,4).  You may find somewhere in between numbers works best, but this will get you started with a general idea.  You need to move your hands slower than your foot pedal, and you don't have to be going full blast.  In fact, if you have loops in the curvy areas, that probably means you should slow down in the curves.  It's tempting to put the medal to the medal, but you'll end up with more broken thread and more uneven stitches if you are going 90 to nothing. 

Change the tension each time you reach a new section to the number indicated on the section.

What you're looking for is which tension will give you no loops on top.

And at the same time, no loops on the backside.

A couple of things about different motifs...Try to avoid doing 1 huge wavy line when stippling.  It will create an odd effect on the texture.

Pebble quilting like this is a good way to practice travelling (or quilting a new line on top of a previous line)

 Loops are great for hiding words of inspiration (just stay away from i and t!

 And when I stipple I like to think about 3 things...  1) Seaweed

 2) Duck Heads

3) Dog bones.
I dunno, but it works for me! 

Lately I have been turning to Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project for inspiration to try things outside of stippling.  Just this week I did her "Pumpkin Patch" design and it turned out beautifully.  She shows how to take the basic free motion motifs and expand them and tweak them a little at a time to create beautiful custom quilting for your quilts. 

Now it's your turn.  I want you to tell me what problems you have with FMQ and I'm going to put together (or try to!) a troubleshooting chart that you can print out for quick reference.  So if you have thread shred,  loops, birds nests, whatever....leave me a comment and let me know and I will do my best to list the common causes and solutions for you all.  I am not an expert, but I've had almost every problem you can think of and worked my way through it.  Alright y'all...list your problems in the comments!