It's official. I have spent more time trying to figure out what is wrong with my free motion machine quilting than I spent at the class learning the various techniques years ago. I am extremely out of practice, but I do know the basics. I have been working on muslin practice squares to get "the feel of it" back, but I am finding out a few things. The machine that I originally learned to machine quilt on bit the dust many moons ago and I replaced with with one from Wally World.
My machine is pretty jerky, so my stitching can't be terribly smooth, no matter what I attempt. Hubby discovered that the surface of the extension table is smoother and has less friction when you move fabric across it than the surface under the arm of my machine. So, the right side catches while the left side glides smoothly. No matter how smooth my hand motions are, I can't overcome the friction issue.
Hubby suggested getting some smooth plastic to put over both surfaces so that the friction would be the same on either side. I know that there is a teflon coated piece of plastic made for that purpose. I don't know if I can lay my hands on either very quickly.
If I can try one of these solutions in the near future, I will. Otherwise, I may just do the straight line stuff with my walking foot (in sections) and quilt the hearts and swirls by hand. Boy, if that is the case, I really need to get cracking!
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