Originally Posted by wesing
I'm seeing now that my original post may not have been clear. I have taken it off the quilting frame and thought I could quilt the borders on a regular sewing machine. When I tried to run it through the machine it kept jamming up, even though I had the feed dogs down (I was using a regular foot). I have a foot that has an "arm" and a clear, square hole, but I must have not installed it correctly because the machine wouldn't sew when I had it on.
Darren
To free motion quilt with the feed dogs down, you must use a "hopping" foot. This is a foot with a spring in it. (You can test this by pushing down on the foot while it is in your hand; a hopping foot will push down and spring back up.) A darning foot is a type of hopping foot and is what most quilters use for FMQ.
I'm not sure what kind of clear foot you have. A walking foot has an "arm" that rides on the screw that holds the needle in place on the shaft. A walking foot requires that the feed dogs be up when used.
There may be some machines that use an arm to "hop" rather than a spring, but I'm not sure. You may need to post the brand and model of sewing machine you are using to get expert advice.
Try Googling for a darning foot for your machine. You may find some good pictures of the correct foot for your machine that way and can compare to what you have on hand.