Freemotion quilting

[wouldbequilter]

I am a first time quilter and finding it difficult to freemotion quilt. Can't seem to get co-ordinated. It's like drawing but instead of moving the pencil - move the paper. Any help or suggestions of making it easier would be very much welcome.

England

[Susie]

I am still working on this myself but have found that the gloves with little gripper dots on them sure help with moving the fabric. I have not tried doing a marked design, only meandering. Everyone says you need to practice, practice, practice. My machine doesn't have any bells or whistles like needle-down or stitch regulator. Maybe it would be easier with one of those, but at least my meandering looks pretty decent now.

[auntjana]

One thing I do when I try to teach free motion quilting is to tell my students that they are just drawing jigsaw puzzle pieces, and that there is no quilt police to come and check them out!!

Using El's method of holding your hands in a triangle manner and those gloves make it easier to do.

And like everyone says - PRACTICE!!

One more thing - the more that your quilt is laying flat on a large table beside your machine helps a lot - Make your surface next to the machine the same height as the bed of your machine. One suggestion is to place books around the bed of your machine to make it bigger - if your don't have it in a cabinet.

Keep trying - your will succeed!

[Quilter7]

I have also been told to draw the design first. I draw it several times until I am comfortable. I could not seem to get meandering down until I used this technique. I also use the inside of handbags to practice free motion quilting, others use potholders or placemats. All the suggestions are wonderful and true!

[Karsev]

Here's a couple of tips I've learned that help me.
1. I'm not comfortable with gloves, maybe I need to practice with them to get used to them, but anyway, I use those rubber "fingertips" that people working with a lot of paper use. I wear one on each middle finger only. I like to feel the fabric.
2. Take a deep breath, roll your shoulders back and try to relax and practice until you find your combination of speed and fabric movement.
3. Wipe the top of your machine bed with a new fabric softener sheet, it seems to make the top a little more "slippery".
4. Make a practice quilt sandwich, maybe 2 or 3 feet square. Practice writing your name, your mind and hand are already familiar with those moves. Also, make circles, stars, and movement, doesn't have to be any recognizable pattern, just keep moving til you're comfortable.
5. I agree with Susie, I just have a regular machine,too. It's the repetition that's important. Sometimes, after work I pull out my practice sandwich and just stitch away, 15 minutes of it helps to relax me and I get more practice, too. Believe me, a lot of my practice is just squiggles, random lines, whatever, but it helps. Am in the middle of free motion quilting a quilt now, mixing stitch in the ditch with stencil and feather patterns. Go to Quiltmakertothequeen.com with Jill Schumacher. I was lucky to take one of her workshops, I learned so much from her.
6. Have fun with it. I make lots of "mistakes" but who cares??? It's my fun and therapy.

[wouldbequilter]

Oh ladies what stars you all are for your useful suggestions. I will be trying out all of them. Thank you so much for all your comments.

wouldbequilter
England

[TheKid]

All of the suggestions are great. But, in addition to their ideas, I make a sandwich size of a hot pad. I practice using the free motion with this, and have found out that the practice helps for the real thing. No one else will see these and who really cares? Have fun with it, and you will be the "STAR".