A little silicone sprayed or wiped on the bed (harp) of the machine will help also. You're going to want to roll up the sides of your quilt so only a little puddle is under the needle so some bicycle clips will come in handy to hold the rolled edges, also.

The walking foot looks like a little toy tank.

I guess I broke all of the assumptions. I began with free motion quilting and have not SID yet.

I usually use my walking foot for quilting, but if I want to use a decorative stitch to SID I have used my open toed foot or zigzag foot too.
The more stretched out a decorative stitch is, the easier it feeds through the machine.

Lengthening a straight stitch while doing SID was another appreciated tip I was given years ago :wink:

Using a wobble stitch (a very very narrow zig zag stitch) for SID is more forgiving if you wander a little too. It also is pretty, but doesn't stand out a lot.

Thanks for all the hints!

Will I be able to do SID with my Featherweight? If so which of the feet that came with it would I use? I know there is one that is a darning foot, but somehow have associated that with FMQ. Would either the regular foot or the zipper foot work? I was thinking the zipper foot might be more forgiving of something thicker like a quilt. I realize it would most likely only accomodate a wall hanging or possibly up to crib size.

I just finished my first machine quilt project- a table runner. First time I used a walking foot, first time I tried SID, first time I sewed using a charm pack, first time I made my own binding, and first time I used the Missouri Star Quilt Co. binding tool. It was such a good learning experience. Sometime I will get brave and move on to a lapquilt!

Ok, so I need to use a walking foot for stitch in the ditch?

Is there any type of machine quilting I can do with just the regular foot? If so what?

I'm in my RV at my land in SE Texas, not at home, and only have my featherweight here...

And it's way too hot to do hand quilting in my lap right now.

You can use a regular foot to SID but it increases the odds of getting puckers on the back. I have SID with my blind hem foot because the little guide on it is easier for me to get my stitches right down in the ditch and aside from the guide it is just like a regular presser foot. If you have sandwiched and basted well the risk is minimal. Give it a shot. What is the worst that can happen?

Try your regular foot, go slow, check the back often :wink:
As feline fanatic said, as long as you baste well, the risk of puckering is minimized.

Start in the center of the quilt and work out to minimize puckering too.
Center to the left, then center to the right.
Center up, then center down.
It helps to distribute the movement evenly :D:D:D

Or from the center of the top all the way down to the end.
Then the next row middle left all the way to the right...
The next row start from the bottom and go up
Then from the right all the way to the left.

It all depends on how you are going to quilt your top.

SID can be done on a Featherweight using a regular foot, and probably a zipper foot, tho I've never used a zipper foot for this purpose. For contemporary machines, the darning foot is used for FMQ, but I dont know if the darning foot for the Featherweight is the same thing....someone else may be able to answer that. The only problem with using a regular or zipper foot for SID on a quilt is that the quilt "sandwich" is much thicker than piecing and the top fabric is apt to want to move out of position, which is why the walking foot is so good....just don't know if one is available for the Featherweight.

Yep, they are available. Got one for my featherweight years ago when I first got her. I think I got it from a Bernina dealer that handled accessories for a number of machines. Didn't cost much. It was a generic foot, not a Singer specific one, but it works fine. I do believe they have them on Ebay. Any LQS near you that carry machines and accessories? That would be the place to start. BTW, the walking foot for the Singer is narrower in the feed dog area than for a regular Singer.