ArchaicArcane

*** Sorry for the huge response everyone. I'm catching up.

Sheluma One of these days, I'll see if I can dig up that photo. She was less than impressed, but she healed up fast once I started doing it.

The Slants (other than the 301) have a few things working against them as far as FMQ.

1. Horizontal Bobbin
2. Supposedly the slant needle
3. The lack of the ability to drop the feed dogs, and instead the raised plate which causes drag and I bet some tension issues.

The only reasons I ever tried it to begin with is

1. People said it didn't work, but I didn't understand why - the 201 is a horizontal bobbin, as are many of the modern machines and the 301 is a slant needle
2. I don't always drop my dogs to FMQ.

I found that the upper tension needed to be higher to not eyelash, and it seems like you have to go faster on these slants than with say a 15, hence more concentration. The biggest thing is set the stitch length to 0 and don't raise the plate (which is a non-issue on the 431) The 301 though in comparison is effortless, and you can sew at any speed you want.

The foot I FMQ with is the 161596 that you mention above. I've never seen the other one in the wild.

As far as needles, I'm definitely the wrong person to ask. I typically know which needle system to use, but as far as the application, I almost always have the wrong needle in the clamp. I caught myself piecing with a leather needle not long ago. The only thing I'm reasonably sure of is that a ball point needle is for knits, its slightly rounded tip is supposed to push between the threads instead of tearing them. How that's different from stretch? I don't know. I use topstitch for almost everything these days, and rarely do anything with knits anymore (though I should, I have no shortage of the stuff around.)

I'll check your links out, thanks I really should learn more about needles, but it seems like it usually just falls to the bottom of the list, because I'm not having trouble at the moment.

manicmike - Thanks!! I always find that the time is worth it with these machines. Technically, I'm not sure of the German 411 / 431s are Rocketeers (Those are the 500 and 503), but they were out at about the same time, and take a few of their styling cues from them, don't they?

Tisch - I think anything that will get you working on your 1/4" seam accuracy is good. That said, I'm less a piecer than a quilter. The piecing doesn't do much for me, which is why I now have a frame. A cover for your machine is not a bad one to start with. I made liners for my featherweight cases. Mug Rugs... even a lap quilt. Just beware the "Add A Row" problem - "You should just add a row..." My first "lap quilt" fits a Full bed because of that. Of course if you go in with a plan, unlike what I did, you'll be fine.

plume - The post is the part that the whole tensioner is assembled on. It's held in with the screw with the red arrow on the page you linked to: http://mysewingmachineobsession.blog...f-tension.html. If it was out a little farther than it should be, it could possibly give a little more space for the discs to bop around and cause inconsistent issues. It's just a theory though without being able to see it. If that is the case though, it's a temporary fix that you have, so I'm hoping something else resolved itself.

That machine is gorgeous! I'm glad you were responsible for making sure it went to the right home.

Doubtful, but stranger things have happened. I'm concerned that plume has a temporary situation here though. Usually if I didn't have anything to do with the fix, but it's suddenly working, I think it could suddenly not work again too.

Yeah!! I'm glad she was able to help you! She was a huge help to me when I needed some things I couldn't find on this side of the world. Very nice lady.