I have that feature and have never used it.

With a sideways stitch does the dog feed also move in that direction? Seems like it would have to.

I've never used a machine that can stitch sideways but now I'm going to have to go find one and try it out!

I don't know if I'd use that a lot for quilting but it seems like it'd be super handy for some of the other things y'all have mentioned - patches, bag straps, etc.

Used to be done by stepper motor. The Viking 1+ could do some sideways stitches and you could hear and see the motor going. 1+ had some large designs on cards. Same with the older Pfaffs, you could hear and see it.

Yes, the feed dogs move sideways. Machine makes some very interesting noises too! It's a pretty small increment, so some times it would move 2-3 times before making the next stitch.

I was doing decorative stitches that are programed into the machine, so it was neat to be able to do them wider than the needle opening in the foot. I had to go slow as for most of them, I was moving over a seam (along the edge for a crazy quilt). But overall, it worked very nice. I would change the speed setting so I could hold the foot all the way down and get a consistent slow speed with no effort on my part.

I have the Babylock Destiny.

I'm pretty sure my older Pfaff does this too, as it has 9mm built in stitches, I assumed I'd need the hoop for them, so never even tried using one. I bought that machine used and never figured out much more than basic stitching. DH has it now.

That would be very handy for me. My husband crawls on his hands and knees whenever he works in the landscaping, which is often. I just put new knees in his pants every couple of months. I don't mind doing that, but it sure would be easier if I could go sideways inside those pant legs.

Patching pant legs seems like a really good use of this feature. I find them so hard to do.

The wonderful things I learn on QB...never heard of the sideways stitch. Going to have to watch for it...sounds great. Thanks for posting information about it. I will be following this thread to learn more.

I agree!!! I love this post because I just learned something my machine can do....to think I never used it before, but you can bet I will now.

I wanted this stitch so I bought a used Bernina 1630, which was TOL maybe 20 (???) years ago, just prior to the 180, which had the embroidery module we know today.. The machine can sew small figures, teddy bears, trees, approx. 1 1/2" wide. And it was also possible to buy "Keys" with additional wide designs.

The TOL Pfaff, 14??, had a similar feature, sideways stitching, with cute designs built in. It also came with a "tray" that enabled the user to design additional wide stitches. I remember when Pfaff was one of the best sewing machine companies....before it was bought by SVP....oh...the "good old days".....