I have a BERNINA 780 and there’s a button on the front of the machine, near the needle, that raises and the lowers the presser foot. I sometimes remove my knee lift and use only the button. However, on my BERNINA 350, I can’t use it without the knee lift, as it only has the lever behind the foot to raise and lower, and as someone who’s been on BERNINA machines for nearly thirty years, I just can’t get used to going back to to the manual lever behind the foot.

I have a quarter inch foot with guide, but I don’t use it. Every time I have to sew down the middle of fabric, the guide is in the way.

Love my knee lift but it did take some getting used to, for me all my machines I have the feet with the guides and love them. My Pfaff does not have one and I have to use the edge of the foot, my seams are a wee bit wonky. LOL

Not a fan of the guide on the foot but still trying!
Love the knee lift, feel lost with out it. I am on Bernina

I started sewing standing up about a year ago and it's so much more comfortable that I can't imagine sewing any other way now. I have a big 1 inch thick pad that I stand on to protect my feet from my hardwood floors. My Juki 2010 has a knee lift but it's in the box and I've used it one time I think when I first got the machine. The foot it came with has the perfect scant quarter inch for piecing so that's what I use. The feature I'm addicted to is the clip threads button, I had out my DSM last week for the zigzag and I had to clip thread with scissors!! :D

I much prefer the foot control. I find I have more accurate stitch/speed control with my foot. But, I also sew barefoot which also gives me better control.

I like my quarter inch guide foot, especially the one that has a wide slot for zigzag because my machine allows me to move the needle right or left by increments and get the exact distance I want. Also, if I use a straight stitch foot of any kind I tend to forget and risk breaking my needle. I invested too much money on other edge guiding gadgets that I regret. They help, but not much more than the edge guide foot, and of course they cross the bobbin cover and have to be removed frequently for that. Ugh! I sometimes use the knee lift, but after sewing for more than half a century without one, I can take it or leave it. It's nice if I'm sewing something that will have a lot of pivoting in it. I use the start/stop button sometimes. It kind of makes me nervous, and I feel I have more control with the foot pedal, especially if I have the machine speed set at max.

One recent purchase that was worth every penny was a bi-level foot. I learned about it from Rob Appell in one of his Man Sewing videos. He said it was commonly available, but I had never seen one before, and was surprised my dealer had it. It's a dream come true, letting me sew right along the edge of a binding very precisely. If you get one, be sure it has the bump on the left side because you usually can't put the entire quilt through the machine's throat to sew the binding down to the left of your needle. Ask me how I figured that out! The Baby Lock dealer was nice about exchanging it. Here's a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UbJ2In35qc

Welcome back to sewing!