Learning to Free Motion Quilt

After watching several videos on YouTube on free motion quilting, I decided to give it a try. So I installed my quilting foot and started free motion quilting for the first time. I did a stipple stitch on a crib quilt using my Brother CS6000i. As I was sewing, I thought, "Wow! This is easy, and it's so fun!" When I got half way through, I took a peek at the underside of the quilt and wanted to cry. I had a bunch of loops and knots here and there.

Of course I wanted to blame something else other than myself, so I cursed at my Brother sewing machine and started researching how to get the thread tension correct for free motion quilting. I spent about half a day on Google and could not find a solution. I wished I had enough cash to buy a better machine, but I read several reviews from people who love free motion quilting with this particular sewing machine.

I made another quilt sandwich using scraps and tried it again. After a few minutes, I realized that the underside loops occurred mostly when I was making aggressive turns. So it turns out that it's just me, and me and not my sewing machine. I apologized to my machine for cursing at it.

I have a lot more to learn about free motion sewing. I know that more expensive machines have a stitch regulator, but I think with a little more practice I will be able to free motion quilt just fine without that feature.

If there are any expert free motion quilters here, feel free to leave me some tips on how to improve my technique before I ruin another quilt!