Rulerwork Quilting Demo with Amanda Murphy 

Hi Liza - different machines have their own little quirks. If the bottom of your quilt is too loose - a few things could be happening. Your feed dogs should be dropped just like when you're free-motion quilting without a ruler. So just like in free-motion quilting, you could be moving your fabric quicker than your needle is going up and down. For me - learning how to ruler quilt changed my quilting "flow" because I was used to having two hands to guide my fabric under my needle and now I was using one of those hands to hold my ruler in position. Beyond that - my machine does like a straight stitch throat plate. I also set my stitch length to zero but I've never had to change my usual thread tension. If you continue to have problems, I would take your machine over to your dealer and show them what's happening when you ruler quilt. They can likely either spot the issue by watching you and/or help you set your machine up for success based on what your machine brand typically likes.