HELP!! Straight line machine quilting
 

Do I absolutely need a walking foot to SID or straight line quilt on my little Brother machine?
I don't have a huge budget, but I would really like to do some straight line quilting on the chevron baby quilt I just made. I don't have any of the fancy feet, just a 1/4in, zipper, and blind hem foot.

Nope. You can do it. I've done it on a little Brother machine from Walmart with no walking foot. My first quilts were done that way. A walking foot makes it easier, but give it a go without one. Go slowly.

When the time comes to buy one, you can get a generic one for those little Brothers for about $25 in many places.

Oh! and should my feed dogs be up or down if I'm not using a walking foot?

Feed dogs up. Make a little practice sandwich so you can see if you need to change any tension settings. I usually do not need to change any, but you never know.

Set you stitch length longer than you normally would. Play with that a bit on your practice piece, too, so you can find a length you like. Maybe somewhere close to 3.

Feed dogs up! The walking foot basically puts feed dogs on top and bottom of your material. It just helps control the "bulk" of the quilt. Go ahead and try without, sometimes I forget to put it on and SITD just fine. Have fun.

One point . A friend used normal foot and did all her rows t to bottom. The fabric shifted and creased. Make sure you go top to bottom then bottom to top it smooths out. Takes ages to unpick if you do it wrong.

To me, the frustration was not worth it at all. It might depend on the machine and the batting too. When I used my old machine I bought a generic walking foot for it that was only about $20 or maybe less.

No but you can find a walking foot at decent price, consider it an investment because they come in handy

http://www.kenssewingcenter.com/brot...t-p-31378.html

Make sure you have your quilt pinned securely about every hand print without a walking foot. As others have said before, the walking foot is a feed dog on top since the batting makes what you are sewing a lot fatter. And yes, save your pennies and purchase a generic walking foot for your machine. Good Luck. Take your time and keep checking the back for any puckers as I have always call them.

You can loosen the pressure on the presser foot if your machine has that capability - and I only know of one that doesn't. You need the feeddogs to move the fabric forward, but if you loosen the pressure to where the quilt moves but isn't compressed, it may help alleviate shifting on both the top and back. I don't need a walking for my favorite quilting machine.

You can do it without a walking foot. It depends somewhat on the machine, as some machines are better than others. No matter what the machine, I highly recommend *heavily* starching both the backing and top before starting. Starch stabilizes the fabric so it is less likely to pucker as you work.

If the quilt is already sandwiched, lay it on the floor on a large flat sheet and do several layers of spray starch on each side, drying layers in-between. A fan helps speed drying of the starch.

Lots and lots of pinning - turn it over to make sure everything is smooth on the back before starting.

If it isn't, undo it and make sure it's smooth on the top and bottom.

I found it helped to stitch all the rows the same direction - so if there was any shifting, it shifted all the same way.

Buy the walking foot!

As long as the sandwich is really secure you are ok, I have never used a walking foot, even the king size quilts come out fine, no puckers or anything.

Sent you PM.

Check prices locally but google it first, $30 seems a lot.

Good advice.

Go ahead and try it...I did several with my simple Pfaff before I got a machine that had a walking foot.

I just got through unpicking a baby quilt for the second time. Bit the bullet and took my machine to the shop. It should work better now - the feed dogs weren't working properly.

If you try this without a walking foot ... and have taped the three layers to a table as you layered them to be sure all wrinkles are out and have pinned closely (maybe every three inches) and adjusted the tension on the presser foot ... "pin" the fabric together with your stiletto one inch in front of the needle as though walking the stiletto down the stitch line as you sew. This should help to keep the fabric from creeping. You should have a sharp stiletto which will go down to the bottom layer. Just a suggestion...

nope- you do not absolutely need a walking foot- some of us have expensive walking feet & still choose to seldom if ever use them- I quilt a lot- with my domestic machine & pretty much never use my walking foot- I hate that thing- drives me crazy- bought it 8 or 9 years ago when a class instructor insisted it was a necessity...used it for that class & put it away- I have friends/family who once In a while come by & work on a project- it is there for them if they want to use it- like most * specialty tools* sometimes they are nice to have- seldom are they really necessary- unless you personally find you can not do without it...we each have those *personal items* that we feel we can not do without- but there are as many people who do with out the same item all the time

You can find a walking foot for about 12.00. I think it's an investment that you would be wise to make. Jmho, Gina

Check out Amazon.com for a walking foot. Very good prices. The walking foot helps feed all the layers and will be well worth the investment.

A walking foot is a luxury imo, cos we all know it's not cheap. But definitely not impossible to sew straight lines using a regular foot. Sometimes I'm too lazy to change foots in between different sewing projects and I've used a regular foot to sew on my quilt sandwich. Gives the same results too!

Buy the best walking foot for your machine. You won't regret the cost but you will regret the wasted money buying a low quality one. The low quality generic ones I have used will not feed evenly, are flimsy and break. Look on Ebay or at online sewing machine parts shops.

This book is just for quilting with a walking foot. It's the best I've found: One Line at a Time by Charoltte Warr Andersen[h=3][/h]

I have a walking foot but I don't use it any more. I have better luck using a darning foot, set stitch length to "zero" and just "free motion" the straight line quilting. Love this method and probably won't ever use my walking foot again! Takes a little practice to achieve even stitch length but it is quite easy. Once you get the "feel" and the "rhythm" - you'll love it!

You will be much happier if you DO use a walking foot. The walking foot has teeth on it and guides the top fabric through the machine at the same rate as the feed dogs guide the bottom fabric. You will have much better luck avoiding wrinkles and bunches on the back and you won't have extra fabric on the top layer when you get to the end of a long seam. They are worth the cost!

Personally, I would invest in the walking foot - sounds like the walking foot for your machine isn't very expensive - I think you won't be happy with the quilting done without one. It's just not worth trying to save the $20. - $25.

This is an important point. Your perfectly pieced work will look puckered and not so well done
if you skip this step. It takes a bit longer but the finished look is so worth it.

Without a walking foot, you need to decrease the pressure on your presser foot so it doesn't wrinkle up the top fabric as it goes through. Make the pressure enough that the feed dogs do pull your quilt through, but not enough to smash it all too tightly. This works well for straight stitching like stitch in the ditch. If you plan to do a lot of machine quilting in the future, I would shop for a good walking foot.

I think a walking foot is essential... I use one whenever I'm sewing more than 2 layers...basically when sewing binding on and finishing the binding by hand. There is such a big difference in the quality.

Save some money some how (skip a few desserts or pop, keep car trips to a bare minimum for a month) and buy a walking foot. Your 'little Brother sewing machine' maybe basic enough that it could adapt well to a basic walking foot. I understand some of the higher priced machines require a walking foot that's pretty expensive though.

I think Walmart sells them...or at least they use to. When you get your money saved, buy one there, try it and see if you like/can tell the difference. If you cannot, return it.

Good luck
Nan

I bought an expensive Brother machine this past year and it came with two 'regular' sewing feet. Neither gave me a good, clear 1/4" line. I bought another 1/4" foot, but that came with other issues. I still cannot get a good, clear, vision of the 1/4" 'place" to be sewing!

I never found a foot that gave me good results for 1/4". What I do instead is place a physical adhesive guide on the bed of my machine, measuring it myself to give me a scant 1/4". I used to use moleskin (purchase in the foot section of any pharmacy), but recently found these Dritz adhesive guides which I like even better because they are taller:
http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-Quilting...dp/B0085L2Y2I/
As I recall they were about $3 at my local JoAnn Fabrics.

I do *not* recommend the red ruler Dritz sells for marking the 1/4" seam. It measures an *exact* 1/4" which will result in too wide a seam when you iron. I use my own cutting ruler to mark the seam instead. I place the ruler under the presser foot, manually lower the needle until it is just to the right of my 1/4" line on the ruler, lower the presser foot to hold the ruler in place, check the lines going front to back against the bed of the machine to make sure that the entire ruler is straight-on, then butt the adhesive guide up against the right side of the ruler.

A physical barrier works a lot better than a foot, in my opinion. With this barrier I can sew seams very fast and get perfectly even seams for the entire length (and no eyestrain from trying to make sure fabric is lined up).

I have used a regular foot with the feed dogs up and have not had a problem. This is what I do on most of my quilts.

What I have done, without a walking foot, is to do a diamond pattern. I chalk mark two lines, corner to corner, crossing in the center. After safety pinning within the four quadrants created by my lines, I begin in the center and stitch out along one of the diagonals up to a corner. Then I use a guide bar to set the next row, and continue that way filling in that quadrant with diagonal lines spaced as appropriate for the pattern. I repeat with each of the quadrants, always working from middle out. That way I have avoided bunching since everything gets smoothed out from the middle out.

LOL, I hate to say it, but I cannot do a straight line no matter the foot! You don't need a walking foot, just a steady hand!

I bought another walking foot for my "Number Two "- machine ( a basic Brother) from eBay for less than 20 USD shipping included. A generic one, a bit noisy but works OK.

Haven't read all the posts but the first time I tried to straight line quilt without a walking foot was a disaster!!! Fabric scrunched up in front of foot all over the place. I bought a generic one for $25 twenty years ago. I have since bought another generic one and I think it was around $15. I can't even sew on binding without my walking foot. By the way, the prices on the Brother site were way more than you can get a generic foot somewhere else.