I was quilting merrily along on my quilt as you go project using the walking foot on my Bernina 1130 and the fabric just stopped moving. I've moved the feed dogs down and back up, turned the machine off and on, cleaned out the lint. I got it to stitch another few inches but it stopped working again. I turned it off to give it a rest. Any ideas of what the problem might be? There's no way I can take it to the doc so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

No idea. Hope it resets so they will work when you go back to your machine. Unplugging electronics sometimes lets them reset and work properly when plugged back in. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Finger's crossed here as well....please let us know if this corrects the problem.

Wow, that would be the pits. I hope it works when you plug it back in.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement. No luck....guess I'll have to call the doc tomorrow. I have another machine, but I like Bernina is much better for quilting.

I am so sorry!!! I hope it's stay is short and inexpensive :wink:

are you sure it's the feed dogs and not the walking foot?

I would check regular sewing first too...I've gone thru about 3 walking feet before I finally realized Your not suppose to go in reverse???? Never knew that, no problems since

You're not supposed to go in reverse with a walking foot? I never knew that. Why, do you suppose?

Renee

a sewing machine guy told me that the gears on a walking foot are made to rotate forward...when you reverse it stripes the gears????? I know I never could keep one working :roll:

WOW!!! I did not know that about a walking foot....thank you for telling me before I did it with mine :D :D :D

Hmm..... guess I haven't "reversed" enough miles yet.....

Wow, I did not know that.

Clean your machine.
Take the throat plates off, get a pair of tweezers and get all of the "fuzz" out of there. I think your feed dogs are not being allowed to raise up, consequently, no forward movement.
I have had this happen to me twice.
The first time it cost me $60 to have repairman do what I could have done for myself. He didn't tell me what had happened, but the second time, I had my suspicions.
So, I took the throat plate off, and almost missed the fuzz that was so impacted it looked like part of the machine and absolutely wouldn't come out without the tweezer, so felted that when it came out, it came out in bales! I couldn't even pull them apart with my fingers!
Clean your machine .... and, REALLY clean it. <wave>

My feed dogs get clogged with lint just as you say. After taker the throat plate off I take a used toothbrush to it. If that doesn't work, the tweezers or some other pointed object. The lint will also compact around the bobbin case and when I sew, I hear a clunking sound...I know it is past time to take everything apart and do a real cleaning.

ok, I cleaned the machine thoroughly. The feed dogs raise up, but still won't move. I'll let you know what the doc says tomorrow. :(

feet? feet? FOOTS! :roll:


laralea, did you try the plain sewing? forward and backward?

So you aren't supposed to reverse sew with a walkingfoot ? I didn't know that and am guilty of doing that ! Seams like they would say that on the box it comes in . Annie

I've had my walking foot for 20 yrs and I reverse sew when using it. It still work ok.

thats good, I never had any luck doing that and finally he told me what I was doing wrong after the 3rd one :lol:

Well I didn't know you weren't suppose to go in reverse with the walking foot.. Maybe that's why I've gone through 2 of them. I had the same problem...worked fine, then only worked for a bit and would stop again, then quit completely. The regular stitch foot worked fine. I'm waiting on $$$$ to buy my third walking foot. The 2nd. one didn't last any time at all. Thanks for the information, LindaR.


ranger

Boy, oh Boy....I am in the same stressed out mode that MadQuilter was when she saw ROOSTER in the block swap instead of roster. I saw this thread and wondered why the dogs quit working after they were fed? Were they those little Mexican dogs that needed a siesta? What kind of dogs were they that they were worker dogs? Like St. Bernard's, or blood hounds? Light bulb.......at least I had a chuckle first thing this morning, if only at myself.

Hope you havebetter luck than me. Mine quit working and had to take it in and they had to send it to the factory cause the main shaft was broken and it cost a mere fortune, the only consulation is it now works like a new machine. Good luck!!!

Have you called Bernina? When my Elna started to sew backwards I called them. The repairman talked me through how to take it apart and get all the lint out. Not just what I could see or reach with the brush. Hope they can help you. Happy sewing!

I 'reverse' with my walking foot and have no problems. I have a cheapie one for my kenmore.

Thanks for letting us know that tho.

I will show my ignorance... the walking foot is not for the actual quilting is it? I have only used it for straight sewing...

You can use it for straight line quilting, too. Like cross hatching or straight "Stitch in the Ditch" quilting. Some even use it for gentle curves.

Well, I took the machine to the doc and it only cost me 40.00. I never did find out the exact problem. He just said he cleaned and adjusted it. I asked again when I picked it up and received the same response. If it happens again, I'll take the advise to call Bernina - I had already taken it to the doc. Thanks for all the great help!

Thank you for replying mytwopals... well, what is the purpose of this walking foot then?

Think of the walking foot as an even-feed foot. It helps both layers of fabric feed through the machine evenly, so it can be used for machine quilting to keep the layers from shifting. It's also helpful with thick or slippery fabrics. The instructions for the walking foot do actually suggest sewing only one direction - I looked after others mentioned it here. My Viking 1100 feeds a lot more evenly without the walking foot than the Bernina 1130 - not sure why that is, but it's noticeably different.

I wanted to try some stippling... do you think I could use the walking foot? What do people use for other quilting?

The walking foot only works in a forward motion...maybe reverse on some machines...(some have said it ruined theirs)
So I don't think it would work for stippling, you need to be able to move the fabric around and the walking foot helps to hold it in place ;)

The walking foot helps to hold the multi layers of fabric and batting together while sewing, eliminating puckers in the fabrics. It feeds from the top while the feed dogs feed from the bottom, so it all goes smoothly under the presser foot.

You would not use a walking foot for stippling. You need to do stippling with free motion -- i.e., a hopping darning foot. Some quilters leave the feed dogs up but most drop the feed dogs for free motion; try it both ways to see what works best for you.

You can quilt using a walking foot, but only straight lines or large curving lines. For this type of quilting, you start at one end of the quilt and end at the other side.

I have a "thing" that you place over the feed dogs... so I put on a darning foot and hope for the best !!!!!!!!! I believe you go slowly with your foot and guide the material around with your hands... also put the stitch length on wider... so that should do it hopefully... will let you know how I get on next week... I have a sewing table in one of the bedrooms, but have also bought one that folds and also holds the machine down lower... have been sewing on the table in the dining room and getting a sore back and shoulders... enough to put you off sewing forever actually... so next week it will be all go !!!