sandpat

I've only used those stitches to sew the binding down..not to actually quilt. It would look nice though, well some of them would. Some look really bad on the back, so you have to check. I can only add that in my limited experience, I've found that when I have missed stitches, or other problems it is due to drag on either the quilt or the thread. When it happens, I look back at my thread holder and normally, a piece of the quilt has flopped over onto the spool and is dragging on the thread.

show pics of what you are doing...sounds like fun!

annesthreads

Success! I used the simplest of the stitches I'd tried, a star that was just an outline; an ordinary foot rather than a walking foot; tension on 2 and the Janome FMQ bobbin case. That came out fine on the log cabin strips, and I went on to do random lines of stitches on the background of the quilt. Not sure that I'll be able to take a photo, as the thread blends very well with the background, but when I've dealt with the million and one threads I've got to make disappear, I'll try.

psquared52

Always a great sense of accomplishment when you've figured out how to do something! Congrats!!

Quilter54

I can't on mine either as far as I know & I have had it for 20 yrs.

Your your post further down. How did you adjust the pressure foot?

Feed dogs are up. I can't alter the pressure foot pressure on my machine (as far as I know..).[/quote]

mariebaker

I have used decorative stitches on cathedral window quilts and really think that it adds more texture and interest to the window "borders". I also use them for attaching binding and have used for fm quilting-all good.

the pictured quilt is all done w/ decorative stitches

annesthreads

There's a little black knob on the top of my machine that gives me 3 pressure foot pressure settings.

annesthreads

What a beautiful, complex quilt!

Quiltgranny

I have often used the Serpentine stitch instead of trying to quilt in the ditch. Using it wasn't a problem at the county fair last year as I got a blue ribbon for this quilt. I had originally tried straight ditch quilting and had so much trouble with it that I ripped out several rows (on this quilt) and redid them with the Serpentine stitch. It's become one of my main design element stitches.

onemoe

If your Janome 4800 is a QC, you have all sorts of adjustments. Go to your manual, or online

jpthequilter

I find if you use the same brand and thickness of thread, only different colors,it gives the best results in making decorative stitches.
Test them first on an exact sample block sandwich = create a mini-quilt - a one block quilt, or mug rug - if you can't bear to throw it away.