I bought my Bernina Aurora 430 about 2 years ago (wow, it's been awhile). When I was there, they showed me the BSR foot and I figured, if I'm paying a lot for a machine, I might as well pay more for some cool toys :D

I don't do a lot of free motion quilting, but am working on finishing some Xmas gifts so I've been FM quilting a lot lately. And I really don't see much of a difference, if any, with the BSR on or off. I remember in the store, I used it and my stitches were much closer together, but I'm wondering if that was myself making it happen like that or what. And I was thinking that since it's free motion anyway, and I can pull the quilt around as fast or as slow as I want, then how can the foot somehow make the stitches come out more evenly??

So I was just wondering if other people have the BSR and love it, or see no difference, or what. Thanks :)

I love my BSR but am not using it much lately. Somehow it intimidates me a little and when I use it I try to forget is there. The main thing to remember when using it is that you need to reduce the lenght of the stitches to around 1.5.

When you first start doing FMQ, your stitches are very uneven and the BSR helps correct that, because if you move the fabric fast the needle goes up and down fast, and if you slow down so do the needle. If at this point you find that you stitches are even without the BSR, the only thing I can say is that you have conquered FMQ and probably don't really need the BSR. It is always good to have it, because if you don't do it for a while and want to get back to it, it will help you get even stitches again until you retrain yourself.

Maria

I have the BSR foot for my 630. I am still learning how to use it. I have only used it a few times and those were always months apart. I am using it this evening and having to relearn the stupid thing. I'm not sure if it is making a huge difference since I have not tried to FMQ without it.
The trouble I am having tonight is not necessarily a problem with the BSR but trying to get even petal shapes on a queen size quilt. I keep hitting my hands on the edge of the machine and then end up with a little "jerk" as I try to adjust the quilt to be able to work on it.
Not sure If I am explaining myself clearly.
I think if I used it more often, I would get better at it!

Hi Maria,

Thank you for your comments.

Stitches have to be at 1.5? Did not know that...

I understand the idea of the BSR, but does it really make the needle move faster or slower depending on how fast I move the fabric? Not to sound silly, but doesn't my foot on the pedal do that?

And, no, I have <b>uneven </b>stitches with and without the BSR. They seem to get longer and shorter regardless of using it or not (yes, I know, slow down, and practice).

I noticed that when I used my regular free motion foot when the BSR was MIA, the more I worked, the better the stitching got (that whole practice makes perfect thing). And same thing with the BSR - the more I worked, the better. But at first, or when I was annoyed, the stitches were still uneven and the foot didn't seem to help at all :(

I don't have it because I just can't see paying that much for one when I do just fine without it.

Honestly, I don't think it is worth the $800!

I bought my machine on E-Bay, used, and it came with it.

I think with the Aurora you don't have to use the foot pedal. It has a button you push to get it going and then as you move your material it automatically will go faster or slower, depending on how you move it.

You unplug the foot pedal and just push the start button to run it

I am having a ton of trouble with it tonight. I am so frustrated. It keeps skipping stitches. I have re threaded a dozen times and am on the 3rd brand new needle. I have taken out more stitches today than I have in a very long time!!!! I have give up for tonight. I will try again after church tomorrow. If I don't have any more luck, off it goes and I will try to FMQ without it. Don't know if the BSR foot is the issue or not but I'm ready to toss it out the window!!!

I have a Bernina 440 with the BSR and I'm still learning how to do it. I took a class on using it and discovered (to my embarrassment) that I wasn't putting the foot on properly and thus wasn't engaging the BSR....it worked a lot better when I finally got it on right :oops: :oops: :D

It sounds like you're not engaging the BSR. After you put the foot on, are you pushing the right hand button under the display? If you do it will come up with either BSR1 or BSR2, and you can change between them.

The stitch length setting will determine the size of your stitches, and the speed of moving the fabric will determine how fast the motor runs and therefore the number of times the needle goes up and down. If you go too fast an annoying sound emerges from the Bernina telling you that you are overrunning the capability of the motor to keep up. (Check your manual if you don't hear the sound - your beeper function may be deactivated.)

Under BSR1 the needle starts moving when you press the foot control or the start/stop button. The sewing computer accelerates when you move the fabric. Under BSR2 the needle only starts when you move the fabric and either press the foot pedal or press start/stop simultaneously.

Setting the stitch lenght to 1.5 is not a requirement, but a recommendation. The frequency the needle moves at is determined by the speed of the sewing as well as the stitch lenght. If you stitches are set too long the needle will stay up longer waiting until is time to move down again to achieve the desired stitch lenght. It is a very short time, but it may cause your stitches to look jerky. If you set up the stitches to be short, 1.5 or smaller, the needle will be ready to come down any time, and the speed of the stitches will only be determined by the speed you move the fabric at.

I do have one question. Because the sensor of the machine is a little red light on the fabric, I heard somewhere the the BSR does not work on red fabric. To me movement is movement, regardless of the color of the fabric. Have anyone tried this? I went to try and found no red fabric in my stash to go play with. I guess is time to go get some.

Maria

I have used it on a red border before and did not have a problem with it sensing motion.
I am having a problem with the stitches at 1.5 instead of 2, THEY"RE HARDER TO RIP!!!
I did so much ripping last night. I don't know why I am having so much trouble!!!

I will try again this afternoon/evening. I sure hope it cooperates better!!!

Mine works fine on red fabric.

It's worth every penny to me, but I bought it when I first started quilting, so I didn't learn to FMQ without it. Also quilting with the BSR is a different motion than quilting with it, since the amount of pressure on the foot pedal is not important.

For mine, yes, I can run it without the foot pedal (cool trick, but difficult to stop exactly where I want it). However, the 440 (I don't have) is the one where the hand's free stitching gets faster or slower depending on how fast you move the fabric. Mine's the 430, which when you turn on the hand's free, it goes at the same speed regardless of how fast or slow I move the fabric. There's a button where I can make it go faster or slower, but it works independently of me moving anything.

When I attach the foot and plug in the cord, "BSR" shows up on my machine display. I think they said that's all I need to engage it, but I'm not sure... It's a solid "BSR" not flashing or anything. Do I need to press something to make it engage??

Yeah, I think I'm doing something wrong, since the foot pedal pressure IS important when I quilt...

Do you have to run the BSR with the hand's free? Some of the other posts hinted at it, but yours seems to say it's okay to do it with the foot pedal??

I have the 440, so it might be different, but I do have to press a button to get the BSR to engage. I press button that's under the right hand edge of the display. Do you have a manual? (And yes, it says BSR in little type before you engage it. After it's engaged it says BSR 1 or BSR 2 in big letters.)

I just looked at my manual, and it's the same manual for the 440QE and the 430. The BSR is standard on the 440 and optional on the 430; the 440 has more stitches and more memory, but they are remarkably similar, so I'm sure that you need to press the BSR button to activate BSR mode.

You don't have to use the start/stop button; you can use the foot control with BSR. I've actually never used the start/stop button for anything.

I'll feel somewhat embarrassed if all I needed to do was press a button to make it work, but that will also be good news! Thank you for looking. I'll hunt for my manual this afternoon.

I appreciate all of your help :)

Well, dunster inspired to read my manual (who would've thunk). From the manual: Press this button to engage the BSR. And sure enough, when I pressed the button, the BSR1 showed up.

So I'm going to pretend I knew that all along, and have been using that all along, to save my pride :oops: :oops:

dunster - You are my hero!! Thank you!!

I'm just glad you have it working now. There are lots of neat features on the 440QE, and I assume on the 430, that are not well documented in the user's manual. If your dealer gives free classes, avail yourself of them and ask the teacher to show you all the good stuff.

Hey dunster. I'm taking a break from FMQ. It's amazing how much better the BSR works when it's on. Thank you again! I really appreciate your help since my quilting looks much better on this quilt.

Now, does the BSR foot help with binding?? :wink:

I'm a relatively new quilter (18 mos) and totally new to the forum. I'm hoping someone can help me with my Bernina stitch regulator. I've made 8 quilts and quilted them with my BSR and have been very pleased. My last 2 quilts have been an exercise in frustration. Stitching is fine then suddenly machine will skip a couple of stitches - looks like it doesn't pick up the bobbin.
I've changed needles, needle sizes, tension, thread, pressure and problem persists, even on small practice pieces.
I've taken machine to the dealer where I bought it and they can't find a problem. The only thing they can suggest is that I'm not moving the fabric at an even pace, but the fact that this is a new problem makes me think it's not just "operator error."
Has anyone had a similar problem or anything to suggest I try.
Thanks. Betty1

Be sure that you have the machine set to beep when you move the fabric too fast. Then if it is not beeping, you are not moving it too fast for the BSR. If that is the case, I would take it back to the dealer, show them examples of the problem, and tell them to either fix it or give you a new BSR, if it is still under warranty. I can't imagine my dealer giving up on a problem like that, and yours shouldn't either. Good luck.

Just after I got my 440 the BSR started acting up and skipping stitches. It would skip 4 or 5 in a row and do just like you said, not pick up the bobbin thread. The needle would be going down, I could see the holes in the fabric where it had, but it wasn't catching. My dealer did an update on my BSR, apparently some of them are in need of it. It's a software and hardware update. I also read from another member here that you should leave your foot pressure at 42, instead of lowering it to 0 like the manual says. Apparently when set at 0 the foot is not pressing down hard enough and when the needle comes up it can cause the fabric to "tent" up around the needle. That can contribute to some of the skipping.

Ask your dealer about the update for the BSR. They should know about it and have the ability to do it for you.

Thank you very much. I'll ask my dealer about it.

This has been an interesting thread for us Bernina 440 QE with BSR owners. I happen to love my BSR. A few comments from my "Peanut Gallery", for what they are worth: 1.) Yes, the sensor is that little red light on the fabric. Therefore, it is very important that you dust any lint, etc, off the sensor or it will not work properly (ask me how I know). 2.) Although the default number is something like 2.5, I usually set my stitches at 1.5 - 2.0 .... simply because I don't want my stitches to be so tiny. One word of caution, however: If doing small stippling, you might need to stick with the 2.5 stitch setting in order to get smooth curves. 3.) The less you tense up, the better. I personally find that sipping a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon while I'm doing FMQ helps me loosen up! Just make sure the glass is off to the side, away from your quilt and sewing machine (ask me how I know) LOL

I hope this helps some of you who are struggling. Happy Quilting ~ Nita

I would call your dealer and check. I have the 440 and the BSR has 2 modes. I believe it is BSR1 you use the foot pedal, but no matter how far you push it down, the machines speed is determined by the speed at which you move the material. Using the pedal does give you a bit more control on the stop point and if working on a large quilt and it slides off the table, it does keep stitching as it is sliding :oops:


BSR2 mode you unplug the pedal and it goes and stops with the movement of the material. I have never been told or read where you are to adjust the stitch length, so that is a new one to me. The BSR doesn't make you stitches absolutely perfect, but definitely much nicer than a newbie might do free hand, and it gave me the confidence to try FMQ. I tried some of the large longarms at the quilt show with stitch regulators and found that they work much like the BSR, don't guarantee perfect stitches, but a sight better than I might do as a newbie to FMQ with out.

I should mention that I also love the BSR and did all my FMQ with it until I got a longarm recently. My dealer keeps the BSR current with the latest updates.

The manual recommends stipple FMQ to put the stitch length at 1 to 1.5. I just don't care for the look of those tiny stitches though:< So, I did my recent quilt at about 2.3 and although I like the look of the stitches better, it wasn't as easy to move the quilt about. I'm taking my new machine classes this month and one of them is on the BSR. I'm hoping I get some useful tips. I looked at my FMQ from my older machine, the Janome 9000 and honestly, I didn't see a huge difference.

I've not had success putting different colors in the top and bobbin. No matter what I do to the tension one of the colors shows on the top or bottom:< So, I have to make sure the top and bottom are exactly the same color (and of course the same weight thread). Anyone else notice this issue? I put black, 50 wt. Mettler on the top and blue 50 wt. Mettler on the bottom to match the backing of my quilt and spent a couple hours dinking with the tension with no luck. I had several hours of ripping out stitches because no matter what I did the black or blue showed through to the other side. Tips anyone??

What do you mean when you say that your dealer keeps your BSR current with the latest updates"? Should I be taking my BSR back to the dealer periodically to have something "tweaked"? BTW, good luck w/ your long arm. I bought an HQ-16, but sold it after two years. Just wasn't for me.

Thanks. I'm going to check with my dealer about updates, as a few people have mentioned it to me. I don't know why the dealer doesn't make this known.
Betty1

Since I just got mine last month new, I should have the "current" one right? LOL. I suspect that some dealers don't make it known because it creates more work for them that they don't receive payment for:<