quiltingcotton

I've been following along with Pauline's Quilting World and her QISS System. I learned something interesting in quilting on a domestic. I've always done either just lines with a regular foot, or free motion quilting, where you lower the feed dogs and use a free motion presser foot.

With the free motion quilting I would at times have trouble with missed stitches because I would move the fabric/quilt too fast, or different size stitches if I moved it too slow.

On her QISS System, she mentions a way I hadn't heard of before. She calls it 'Control Quilting Technique' you use an open toe presser foot, keep the feed dogs up, and instead lower the pressure on the foot against the fabric. Very interesting. The feed dogs move the fabric and you just lightly guide it on pre-drawn lines/design on your quilt top.

She is setting up her machine on #8 of the QISS System. She explains how to do it on her machine, and how to find the information if you have a different machine. Here is the site of all of the series so far, and also #8, #9 of the series adds more to it.

Actually the entire series is very interesting.
QISS System so far and EP#8 EP#8 of the QISS System and EP#9 EP#9 of the QISS System

I really like her YouTube's as she always has good information.

RedGarnet222

This sounds interesting. I use my walking foot and when free-motion quilting I use a built-in regulator that bernina's come with.
I think you are really getting some good information there. I hope you show and tell us the results soon. I haven't tried the built-in quilting blocks yet. But, someday I will. It is tied to the embroidery unit designs. A built-in program.
What type of machine are you using?

quiltingcotton

I'm not doing the actual quilt on the series, I was just interested in doing the Control Quilting Technique. I had never heard or thought of doing the quilting that way, with lowering the pressure on the foot, as apposed to dropping the feed dogs, so that the quilt is still fed through the machine with only a light guide with finger pressure.

aashley333

How do I "lower the pressure on my foot"? It is a Bernina 830 Record, 45 years old.

Mkotch

Thanks for these links - I watched a bit and will come back. It's very interesting and worth a try!

Stitchnripper

I do FMQ on my Brother PQ1500 in a table, not a frame. I am inconsistent with remembering to lower the feed dogs and I don't have any issues either way. Is it a particular machine that is the issue? I don't even remember to set my stitch length to zero to prevent the feed dogs from moving. I learned to FMQ on a dinky mechanical ordinary Brother from Costco years ago. The feed dogs didn't lower. I did set the stitch length to zero No issues but a tiny throat.

quiltingcotton

I have a Baby Lock Accomplish for my main machine. On that machine there is a knob for adjusting the pressure on the foot (the part that rides on top of the fabric). I - thus far - have always just lowered the feed dogs completely and used a free motion presser foot when doing the quilting. I also always do QAYG (quilt as you go).

I'm looking forward to trying this new technique. I think it will help me as at times I tend to move the fabric too fast, especially around curves and it changes the stitch length or skips them entirely. This (new to me) way, with leaving the feed dogs up and lowering the foot pressure against the fabric I think will help eliminate that issue for me, especially since I like to follow drawn designs I put on the quilt for quilting it on my domestic.

I used to use rulers/shaped quilting rulers to do domestic machine quilting, but found it frustrating because it quickly tired my hands and arms from holding the rulers down. So, I started to draw out the shapes/designs with the rulers and then did free motion following those drawn out designs, or totally free motion with meandering designs . This was a little bit easier on my hands, but I still needed the hand and arm pressure to constantly push or pull the fabric through the design.

I think with the Control Quilting Technique that Pauline shows in the QISS, will be much better in that the machine will be actually moving the fabric and doing the work, while I would only need lightly guide the fabric to follow the design.

lwbuchholz

I have that Bernina and I don't know of a way to lower the pressure of the foot. There may be a screw or something at the top but I don't know for sure nor have I tried. Maybe google it?