I have a Brother XR9000 and a walking foot that both are a little over a year old. And I used both alot. I was putting together blocks for a rag quilt this morning and my walking foot started lifting up & slamming back down when I backstitched. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it the walking foot or the machine? Sure hope that it's the walking foot.

I have never had that problem with my Brother machines-Did you take it off and put it back on again? Are the feed dogs fully engaged? Does it sew correctly when going forward and only act up when back-stitching? Does your machine work fine with a normal foot when backstitching? If so, it is probably just your walking foot.

I've cleaned the bobbin case & then re-threaded everything. It does OK with stitching forward. I moved the slider on the dog feeds to lower & then bring it up to normal and that checks out. And the fabric feeds through it OK. This happens at the second backstitch. I'm putting 4 1/2 squares together for a rag quilt and have to make an X...backstitching at the ends of the lines.

Went back to my sewing room & put my J foot on...it sewed perfectly and the backstitch was just as smooth. It's the walking foot. Don't know why I didn't think of trying another foot. Thank you, Debbie

It has been said many times on this board, but maybe it needs to be repeated.

Walking feet are not designed to be used while sewing backwards. The walking foot has only one direction, forward. The up and down motion of the needle moves the walking foot and it has no way to determine the direction you are sewing. Therefore, it always moves forward even if the lower feed dogs are going in reverse. Continual use, while sewing in reverse, will eventually break your walking foot.

Glad it's the foot and not the machine but how frustrating.

I did not know this...thank you. So how do you tack something down?

I didn't know this-must have missed the thread discussing it-I usually use my walking foot mostly for binding, but have a few times used it for SID. I have not had any problems taking a couple stitches back with my foot, but as I said, I don't use it much except putting on binding. I'll keep this in mind-I continually learn someting new on this site!!

I have the Brother CS6000i and in the book it says to NOT use reverse - so what I do is needle up and down a couple times - but also remember when quilting you cross over the seams so that locks them in place also :thumbup: Does that make sense ?

If I feel the need to reinforce at the end of the seam, I lift the needle and walking foot, scoot the fabric back a 1/2 inch and go FORWARD again, giving me a little extra stitching at the end to secure.

Also- check eBay for a new walking foot. There are usually good deals to be had.