Originally Posted by
onaemtnest
To all the quilters that are doing the serpentine stitch over the seam, I have a question. Are you dropping the feed dogs or just sewing serpentine over the seams? If so what stitch length? I apologize if your posts are clear to most, I'm easily confused :0)
The serpentine stitch is a type of stitch offered on a lot of the newer sewing machines. It is a wavy stitch, waving from side to side. It is not free-motion quilting, so you leave the feed dogs up. It would probably be classified as a type of decorative stitch.
On my Bernina 1230, the serpentine is stitch #3 on the main panel. It basically does 3 straight stitches towards one side, 2 smaller stitches forward, then 3 straight stitches towards the other side. This creates a wave pattern. Both stitch length and width of the wave are adjustable.
Older vintage machines may not have the serpentine stitch unless perhaps it is offered on a cam.
I don't use a walking foot with this stitch, although it might be possible. I just rummaged in my foot drawer and used a foot that has a zigzag opening but is closed in front. (Tried an open-toed embroidery foot first, but found that top fabric tended to bunch up in it.) This foot has a mark in the middle so I can more or less just aim to keep the seam at that mark. Small variations from the mark really do not matter at all, so I find I can sew quite fast with this stitch. Also, because there are more stitches per inch, this is actually more secure than straight SID.