Foot vs Knee
 

Got to thinking yesterday about foot petals vs knee bar petals. I myself love my foot petal, even if a have to reposition it each day. How many ladies prefer one over the other?

That is an easy one for me. Gotta have a foot pedal cuz I use my Knee lift all the time on my Bernina to raise my presser foot hands free. Comes in really handy especially when during applique.

I use the start stop button for sewing and knee lift for raising my presser foot. I have never used my foot pedal.

I use a foot pedal. I found recently that giving my other foot a higher place to rest made my body more comfortable.

I also love my knee lift on my Bernina (it was on my list of must haves when I bought the machine 20+ years ago). I haven’t used a knee bar for power since I sewed a bit on my grandmother’s cabinet, which was probably more than 40 years ago.

My machine doesn’t have a stop/start button so I can’t say how I would like using that (although for work like chain piecing or FMQ, where I stop and start a lot, I can’t imagine I would like needing to use my hands to control the speed).

Finally, I recently discovered that my machine behaves better when I don’t use the flywheel to advance the needle with fabric under the foot. I’m much more likely to get a rat’s nest of threads if I use the flywheel. Better to just tap the foot for a single or half stitch.

I have several machines with the knee lift. I tried it once or twice. I prefer to use the foot pedal because I started out many years ago with only that.

I am a barefoot pedal all the way gal. I learned with a knee pedal, and hated it. I found it hard to find a happy medium. My machine has a start stop button which I never use. It just seems too awkward and cumbersome to use. The foot pedal just works well for me.

I prefer the foot pedal to the knee bar control. I also don’t use the knee lifter - old habits I guess.

Foot pedal and knee lift. I learned on machines with the knee pedal, and I could easily get used to doing that again, but I don't want to give up the knee lift. Hmmm...maybe there should be an option to use both knees, for different purposes.

I learned with a foot pedal but all my vintage Singers that I use have the knee bar and I've grown to love it. It feels very natural for me now.