I too have the Pfaff built in walking foot and is always down unless free motion quilting.

Hurrah for the Pfaff IDT. It is the best feature on my machine and would buy Pfaff again for that one reason---always engaged and i can use any foot I want.

I'd be worried about wearing out my Bernina walking foot. I bet it wouldn't be cheap to replace either. I don't mind using a few pins and have no problems with my piecing.

Or you are using a foot that doesn't have a cutout. The shirring foot doesn't have one. Neither do the pintuck and piping feet.

Otherwise, except for embroidery, mine is always down.

I use my walking foot too on my Bernina 440 but I did find out one thing - once you start a quilt with the walking foot, don't switch to another foot!

I totally agree about the Pfaff IDT, I have it engaged all the time. I used it all the time when I did regular sewing.