Originally Posted by
Bobbinalong
I saw the
Silesian system being demonstrated at the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK this year and was tempted.
The 5" frame with the straight/curvy ruler and the meander insert came home with me, aswell as the low shank foot for my Janome 4800. So far, so good...... On the first attempt I pulled out an old orphan block and immediately stalled when I met the first seam (admittedly my seams may be better pressed these days) when the seam was 'encouraged' under the foot it jumped a little, making a couple of large stitches. As previously mentioned, most on line demos use a plain sandwich and don't tackle this issue.
Now I've read around this a little, I notice that an adjustable foot might be the way to go. Does anyone manage with a non adjustable foot or will I have to bite the bullet and invest? In the meantime I will keep practising.
I appreciate and help you can give.
Before I got my adjustable Janme foot I got so tired of moving the Westalee foot up and down on the shank that I began compensating by doing the following at thick intersections: 1. Take a stitch, manually raise needle (being careful to hold ruler and fabric in place. 2. Raise foot ny using either the knee lift or the hand lever, 3. Move fabric slightly (equivalent of 1stitch length), 4. Lower presser foot, 5. Take a stitch. 6. Repeat 1-6 until you are past the high spot. This was actually quicker than adjusting the Westalee foot each time I encountered a high spot. The Janome foot is much quicker since all you do is turn a thumb screw to raise or lower it.
I believe that both Juki and Bernina now make a ruler foot that has the thumb screw. Worth checking out.
Another option when dealing with a quilt with lots of bulky seams is to use a hopping ruler foot (that’s what is on my Sweet16), but I’m not sure anyone is making them for domestic machines.
Rob