Cindy V

[QUOTE=PatchouliMoonStudio;6041877]I love my Brother PQ 1500s sewing machine for free motion quilting and piecing, but I have a question. The free motion foot works great while FMQ, but it's so hard to see what I am doing. I feel somewhat like I quilt sight-impaired because I cannot see because of the way this FM foot is designed. I went on ebay to find an open-toe FM foot and even found one that looks exactly like foot that came with my Brother machine, only it does have the open toe. I was so excited to buy it and try it. It did fit my machine, but it would NOT operate as smoothly as my FM foot. It sat up a bit higher too and made a bit of a racket when I tried to use it and the bottom line it didn't work or quilt with good stitches. I returned it and explained my reasons as I am explaining here.

I tried other open toe FM generic feet too and they did not work either. Doesn't Brother make this foot in an open toe for THIS machine? I cannot find answers anywhere. I don't understand why the foot that comes with the machines quilts beautifully, yet no other foot I have tried will work right. I would even be willing to buy a new foot and take the foot I have now and have someone cut out the opening to make it and open toe if that would mean that it would work, but I am a bit afraid to try this as it might not work or be a pricey experiment. But the plastic on my FM foot is getting rather scratched and even harder to see what I am doing.

I DO NOT have a quilting frame. I have my machine in a table my husband built. I suppose if this were set up in a frame I would be able to quilt without as much of a problem, but I do not have the space for a frame and I use this machine for every kind of straight stitch sewing and quilting of course.

Has anyone else had a problem seeing while quilting with this foot? Has anyone purchased an open toe FM foot that worked with success? Does anyone know why other FM open toe feet do not work with this machine?

I really appreciate any responses and answers to these questions.

Hi - Hopefully I am not too late to add to this post. I bought a generic open toe foot for my Brother PQ-1500 and had the same issues. The foot cost $11.99 so I tossed in a drawer. I decided to give that foot another whirl. Finally success and I mean I cannot get a skipped stitch or a knot ball or any of the other issues I had been having. I am not an expert at free-motion but give it my best. This is what I found worked at least for my machine: 100/16 Universal needle, tension set at 2, 1 7/8th's stitch length (one click left of 1 1/2), dogs down and Coats Surlock 100% Polyester thread (3,000 yd roll $2.49 Walmart) top and bottom. The PQ-1500 has become my go to machine. Economical, semi-industrial and oh so handy. I love the machine.