decorative stitches with a walking foot
 

I have a Janome 4300 QDC machine with a walking foot. Can I use decorative stitches with my walking foot? If so, what would be my limitations in the kinds of stitches I can use?

I don't do a LOT of decorative stitches, I have the Janome MC6600, but ..and .. I do, I ..put the walking foot down to be sure to hold both layers of fabric together while it's doing the decorative stitches. I think it works much better than the regular foot.

My Janome dealer told me that the walking foot is not meant to go backwards. Any decorative stitch that takes backward stitches should not be used with a walking foot.

Thank you for this valuable information.

My machine guy says that a walking foot is designed to go in straight lines.

I've used my walking foot for decorative stitches and I've also gone backwards with it. I have an Elna 720. I think it depends on your machine. Remember to make sure your throat plate is the one with the slot rather than the single hole. You may have to adjust the stitch length and width to make some stitches appear as you wish. I made a sample "quilt" that I refer to when I think I want to use a decorative stitch. The serpentine stitch is particularly nice for machine quilting. And when I stitch a binding down to the front of a quilt, the floral stitch can be very pretty. Give it a try and don't be afraid to experiment.

Try on a sample. I found that the stitches were not as tight (satin stitching) with a walking foot.

It will depend on the type of WF and your machine.I use the WF for decorative and can stitch backwards or use the blanket stitch without issues. It is made to use for quilting and decorative stitches. I also have different feet option to use, SITD, open toe, or the 1/4 inch guide foot. The WF plugs into the machine and compatible stitches are are shown.

To use with decorative stitches, make a sample first of the stitch width and length to make sure it works with your project. Check that the needle doesn't hit the foot when stitching.

I have a Janome Horizon 8900. I have used the serpentine stitch with the walking foot for the majority of my quilting with no problems. I can adjust the length and width of this stitch. Then I wanted to try zigzag stitch with the walking foot. I posted a question to the Janome forum asking about the zigzag and walking foot. I was told also not to try to go in reverse, use the correct plate (not single hole), and would not have a problem with zig zag. I only used the default settings. There is a setting 9 and 10 for the zig zag. I used 10 which was for the right zig zag. I would have preferred wider and longer zig zag but was afraid I would break a needle or walking foot. It did zig zag.