Can someone please help me to understand
 

The difference in when to use the walking foot & when to use the skinny foot with the home it. (I was told by the place I bought my machine that this foot was to be used for the FMQ) not the walking foot. So I'm confused b/.c I thought the walking foot was what u used for FMQ.
BTW: I have a Janome Dc2012.
Thanks for the help!

FMQ is usually curvy, for the most part and the walking foot is used for straight stitching.

Walking foot is also called the Quilting foot and it helps to evenly feed thick layers (like a quilt sandwich) through the needle pressor foot area - helps keep fabric layers from shifting.

Here's some video's showing people who are free motion quilting: http://www.youtube.com/results?searc....1.OoSQIUmKh_M

O.M.G......ok the walking foot is used primary when you have a fairly think piece to sew....like a top, batting and backing and you are going to be sewing in straight lines....either stitch in an ditch or like on a diagonal or such....the walking foot has 'helpers' on the top like your feed dogs to PUSH the fabric thru...... then there is your regular foot and then there is your 'darning' foot which is usually a large circle, sometimes an open toe and when you lower it down it usually does not touch your sewing.....now when you lower your feed dogs....you can move the 'fabric sandwich' around with out touching either the bottom or the foot....that is 'Free Motion Quilting"...............
I hope that helps ....

Don't forget that a walking foot helps the binding go on much easier than using a regular foot. You can do curves with a walking foot I do all the time. Slow and steady wins the race. I also love to use my specialty stitches on my machine for quilting! Luann in CT

The walking foot is used for SITD, channel quilting (straight lines) or gentle curves. Check with the manufacurer, but many are made to stitch forward only. The feed dogs move the fabric from below and the grippers on the foot move the fabric from the top, so thick layers are pulled evenly from top and bottom. The foot is also called an even feed foot for that reason.
FMQ is where you don't rely on the feed dogs to move the fabric, you do. you use a hopping foot, or darning foot .

I have to disagree with the poster who said the walking foot is also known as the quilting foot. The walking foot helps you feed fabric IN A STRAIGHT LINE ONLY. When you attach it to your machine, you are essentially adding feed dogs to the top of your fabric. Feed dogs on both bottom and top of your sewing will help feed your pieces evenly. You CAN quilt with this foot, but only in a straight line, or (if your walking foot has a wide enough needle hole) using your machine's decorative stitches.

However, if you want to do some free motion quilting, which means moving the quilt in all directions to make swirls or whatever, you will want to drop your feed dogs and put in a different foot. This foot has several different names; free-motion foot, darning foot, quilting foot. Some people call it a hopping foot because it hops as it sews. The reason it hops is because it has to lift between stitches so you are able to move the fabric in all different directions. If your foot does not lift or hop, you will not be able to do any free motion quilting on your machine.

Hope this helps.

I FMQ without a hopping foot. This ia what i learned to do: put on any wide toed foot, set pressue on the foot to 0. Set stitch length to zero. Feed dogs up. Go! Works great.

My built in walking foot on my older Pfaff (which I have engaged 90% of the time) will allow me to sew backwards, such as sewing in reverse. I do that all the time.

Thank you guys so much. I did not even start this thread but have really learned something here. I did not understand about walking foot either apparently.:eek:

I will echo PaperPrincess and Peckish's posts...

Well, there are as many answers as there are quilters. I use my walking foot for any quilting that I do. I haven't been successful doing the free motion quilting (which uses the darning foot). To do curves, I just go slowly and turn my work as needed. You should try using different ways and decide which one gives you the desired results. There are no hard and fast rules. Besides, quilters are known for breaking the rules! Good luck and have fun!!

There are also different feet available for FMQ. Janome's quilting foot does not hop and you do want it to rest slightly on the fabric. I like it much better than the hopping version.

would never sew on binding without my walking foot also machine quilting straight line.

As others have stated a walking foot moves the fabric evenly as you sew. It is really helpful when SID and putting on binding. In theory it can be used for requlat stitching but it does not work that well. I have done gentle curves and outlining with the walking foot It really seemed easier to do gental curves than using FMQ foot since yiou have more control over the movement. A FMQ foot is used to do feathers, fancy FMQ, stippling, meandering. Since it is "free" and there is no tension on the fabric and the feed dogs are usually dropped it allows the quilter to move the fabric and makes the quilting pattern "free". All that said, I use my regular sewing foot instead of the walking foot. I can sew faster and easier with my regular foot.(not 1/4" foot) also I am able to raise the presser foot tension so I have no puckering. I would suggest you get both walking and FMQ foot since each serves its own purpose.