I have been exploring the 3 FMQ modes (Spring freemotion, Sensormatic freemotion and Dynamic spring foot 6D) of the machine. As you may have read, I had run into some difficulties. Apologies to non-Pfaff owners, as this will probably bore you to tears. However, there is very little around on the net about this and the manual is of no great help on this issue, so I thought this might be of use. Springloaded foot Open Sensormatic foot Dynamic 6D foot My Springloaded foot as well as the open Sensormatic FMQ foot were giving me trouble on the new machine. I had the machine since January and have been mainly using the new Dynamic 6D foot for FMQ which is fantastic. I have quilted two quilts with that and experienced no problems whatsoever. As this came as a bit of a surprise, I booked myself into a session at my local sewing shop. When I rang, the owner asked whether I had kept my sample of trying these modes...of course, I had not. So, I sat down one evening and produced another sample, this time going methodically through the FMQ modes of the machine. This was interesting as the owner of the shop had already hinted that the opening of the open toe feet might be the issue. Sample stitched with Aurifil 50/2 using a Microtex Sharp 70/10 From left to right: The Springloaded foot did not perform, even when I changed the pivot setting gradually down to -5 to hold the fabric in place. Had skipped stitches and thread breakage. Then did the closed Sensormatic foot (pivot height setting 0)... worked absolutely fine. Next came the open Sensormatic foot...did not work at all on a pivot of 0, but worked well on a pivot setting of -3. Did the Springloaded foot again on the Spring FMQ mode...this time at the slowest speed possible and pivot of -5. Worked ok, but there was the occasional skipped stitch. Very different to how this foot had performed on the previous Pfaff 4.0. Close up of Springloaded foot at pivot -5 Then got carried away again with the Dynamic 6D spring foot, which of course, was fine. Back to the open Sensormatic foot on a pivot of -3...again (not shown), no hassles. Changed over one more time to the closed Sensormatic foot on a pivot of 0 and this continued to produce a good result. This was a most valuable exercise... When at the shop, the technician confirmed that the openness of the Springloaded foot was the most likely cause of the problem, not holding the fabric down well enough with each stitch to catch the thread underneath. We talked about batting as my sample was stitched on a fairly thin batting (mixture of polyester and cotton, I believe). He also suggested to use the Dynamic spring foot 6D mode for this open foot...I did, and the problem of skipping stitches and thread breakage disappeared at the shop...mind you, there I used a sample of wool batting. So, in order to use the Springloaded foot in the Spring foot freemotion setting I will have to reduce the pivot height to -5 and go very, very slow, or use the Dynamic spring foot 6D mode with that foot. Hope this made sense. Linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts Karin