Originally Posted by miriam
This little gadget is kind of intimidating. I've not tried it. I need moral support to manage that thing. I think it needs some clean up and the bands replaced at some point. I have a couple more of these - this one doesn't have a feed dog cover in the box.
This is a picot/hemstitching attachment. You need a specific needle plate for each model of machine that you want to use it on and you need a special screw to attach it to the machine.
It has a fabric piercer that punches a round "hole" in the fabric then pushes the fabric around in different directions to stitch in a wavy line along one side of the line of holes. Then you turn the fabric and run it through again so that the piercer goes through the same holes again and stitches the other side on the second pass.
It's a beautiful effect on linen, but trying to run it on an electric machine is like trying to catch a jackrabbit. I finally bought one that goes on one of my treadles so that I can run it much more slowly - one stitch at a time lets you be more precise about keeping a straight line and putting the piercer back into the same holes on that second pass.