Which quilting foot?

by Barbara
(Pine River, WI)

I have been told to use a walking foot by some and a free motion foot by others....HELP!!

Thank you!

Reply

Glad to help!

If you end up liking the machine quilting part of quilting...those stitches that hold the quilt sandwich together...then you'll end up needing both a walking foot and a free motion foot.

A walking foot...

...is the first one you'll use. It's great for ditch quilting or straight line stitching (or slightly curved). This foot has a set of feed dogs on the bottom that work in conjunction with the feed dogs in your sewing machine. Together they pull the quilt sandwich evenly through the machine to create a uniform stitch length that you set with the controls. With this foot installed, the sewing machine is doing a lot of the work.

You can read more about using a walking foot here.

A free motion foot...

...(and you may hear it called a 'darning' or 'hopping' foot, too) is used for free motion quilting. With this foot installed on your machine, the feed dogs should be dropped and the stitch length set to '0'.

Now YOU are in total control of moving the quilt under the needle...how fast or how slow you move it determines the length of your stitches--not the sewing machine.

It takes practice to develop the skill and confidence for free motion quilting. There's no pixie dust for it. Just remember as you are practicing that when you see terrific quilting, that that quilter started exactly where you are...at the beginning. The only thing that separates you from them is that they've spent some time practicing.

That's pretty cool when you think about it!

You can learn more about this quilting foot by clicking here.

I hope this has helped clear up some of your confusion.

I apologize for how long it's taken to get to this answer. Your question was in a group of more than 100 that recently 'miraculously' appeared on my dashboard. Apparently there was a glitch with my hosting company. Again, I apologize for my tardiness.

Piecefully,

Julie Baird
Editor

This article was printed from Generations-Quilt-Patterns.com