Presser foot up or down?
 

When you store your machine or finish with it for the day do you leave the presser foot up or do you put it down with a piece of fabric between it and the feed dogs? I always left mine up but I have been told not to because it puts too much stress on the tension springs. Which is it? None of my manuals, from vintage Singer to modern Pfaff and Brother, say anything about the presser foot position during storage or down time.

I leave mine down with fabric between. Not sure that's correct; I think I was taught that many years ago in Home Ec Class, lol.

I leave mine up as the machine is never touched when I leave that room. When I transport the machine, say to a quilt retreat or the shop for maintenance, I put it down with fabric under it.

I have a Bernina, it gets serviced by a Bernina Dealer, and they told me to keep it down, because of the stress on the tension springs.

i was taught in 4-H many years ago to put fabric down and put the pressure food down
on the fabric. so mine all go down

Since I always start and end sewing with a "leader" I end with the foot down. Nice to know that is better for the tension springs too!

I put my pressure foot down and also the needle in the down position. I have never left a piece of fabric in it; can someone tell me the purpose of the fabric??

I leave mine down with a pice of fabric under it. When I have my machine serviced it always comes back to me that way so I'm assuming it's the thing to do.

My home ec teacher, Miss Lydia Snow, taught me back in 7th grade to always put the foot down, the needle down, and a piece of fabric in between. My assumption regarding the piece of fabric is so that metal doesn't rub against metal.

I don't do any of that! I learned to sew from my mom, who learned to sew from an aunt. I don't ever remember my mom doing any of this. What is the purpose of the fabric under the foot?

The only time I leave the presser foot down is when I transport my machine.
Think the idea of leaving fabric could be to absorb any access machine oil (if it comes from the repair shop that way).

I have always put needle down thru fabric with the foot down. Nor sure where I learned it, just always remember doing it. :-)

My Janome dealer told me the same thing when I bought my machine. So that's what I do.

If I am transporting the machine then the foot and needle are down with fabric inbetween. Usually tho, not only do I leave the foot up, but I take the foot off too. The reason I do this is because when the machine is turned on the needle defaults to the left side. Usually I have my 1/4 inch piecing foot on the machine which needs the needle to be in the center position. I take the foot off so that I don't accidently break the needle when I start sewing.

I was also taught through 4-H and Home-ec that the foot was down with a piece of fabric in between. Maybe old fashioned but habits die hard!

Excellent question! I had never thought about it. From now on I will be putting my foot down with the fabric. If it helps to protect the spring and prolongs the life. Thanks for sharing and for everyone else that responded.

This is the reason why I put fabric under the presser foot on my Wow (stretched Singer). It does leak oil once in a while. However I only put the presser foot down, not the needle.

This is a first for me. I've been sewing since I was a young child & no one has ever mentioned it. But, it does make sense to me. I will try to get this old dog to learn something new. Oh, can I remember it though? THAT, is the real question. HEE HEE.

Have never done it. Has never seemed to have a bad effect on my machines.

Never going to do it. Don't need to remember another "rule"!

On my embroidery machine - if I've been using the embroidery unit and turn the machine off, the machine leaves the foot up. You can't use the lever to put the foot down. Embroidery mode overrides it. If I want to put the foot down, I have to turn the machine back on. If I'm just sewing, the foot goes down.

I learned to sew in home-ec class (eons ago! haha) and don't remember ever being taught this. I'll try to remember in the future. Thanks for the tip!

I always leave the foot down with a piece of material under the foot. Repair man said it releases the tension on the spring. Not sure why the material.

I have never heard this advice before. I looked through several books and haven't found this tip either. Thanks for sharing.

I have been sewing most of my life and have never heard of this issue. I always leave my presser foot up on my almost 40 year old Bernina... and now on my Janome that I use for free motion quilting. Very interesting. Never too old to learn more.

Fabric under the foot provides a cushion between the foot and the feed dogs, similar to the cushions in the bottom of your feet. Can you imagine the wear your bones would take on gravel without them?

The dealer I bought my first Pfaff from years ago told me to leave the machine with the foot down as it's better for the tension disks.

I left the needle down until the time I forgot to bring it up before turning the machine on. It really knocked the machine out of time and broke the needle and a machine part. Now I always leave the needle up, even though my new machine raises the needle when the power comes on.

I ALWAYS, when my machine is not in use put the a piece of fabric under the foot, put the foot AND the needle down.

Stops any foreign objects falling down into the bobbin mechanism.

I've seen vintage machines with discoloration from the presser foot being down without fabric being placed in between.

My grand mother told me to keep the foot down, with a piece of fabric. Not sure if that is right or wrong, however that's what I do!

TreeFrog

As a kid with all her manual, non-computerized machines, my mom told me to put the foot down with fabric under it. Not long ago she told me that with the computerized machines to leave the foot up. Apparently, she was told this by her Viking dealer. I have no idea why for either method, I just do it.

Answer to fabric under the needle question....Back when most of us took Home Ec, our machines were manual, which meant that had to oil them. The fabric absorbed any oil that gravity took down the shaft to the needle area. Now days, it helps cushion our foot and feed dogs while lugging our machines around. (didn't do that years ago too much, since our machines were very heavy)...unless you had a Singer. Funny how we never get out of some habits.
I always leave my foot down and needle down.
Diana

I was taught to leave the foot down with fabric under it, but with my machine now I have no choice. When I turn turn the machine off the foot goes up.

When I decided that I wanted to teach quilting, I took a "Learn Your Machine and Basic Repair" class so I could help my students sew more, rather than fight with their machines. I learned about a lot of different machines, manual and computerized, and as many of you have mentioned, the spring tension was one of the reasons we were told you should leave the foot down when not in use. Also, as many have said, the fabric between the foot and throat plate was to absorb oil. But, with the newer machines, oil leakage is not often a problem and you might think you don't need it there. It was strongly suggested that we continue to leave the foot down with a piece of fabric between them to avoid accidental jarring of the machine which would/could result in the foot being slammed down. The fabric is a nice cushion in case of accidental slamming. The instructor said we should think of it like a rose between two thorns. :-)

We were told to NEVER leave the needle in the down position, especially with the newer, computerized machines. Just watch what happens when you turn on your computerized machine. It resets itself to the default setting, often moving the needle sideways during the adjustment. Over time, this could not only break needles, but skew your shank, screw up your single stitch plate hole, mess with the bobbin case and even effect the machine's timing.

It sounds like with the older, manual machines it's ok to leave the needle down, but you still want to be careful with that. If your foot pedal, accessory box, etc. are stored in the throat area of your machine during transport, they can push up against the needle in the down position and do the exact same things mentioned above.

I know many people have machines in which they can set it to sleep mode while they are away, so they do and leave the needle down. That is a great feature, but we were warned to be careful with that as well, especially when leaving it overnight or for long periods of time. As someone mentioned earlier, you may forget it was in sleep mode and turn the machine off; and when it is turned back on, the needle gets readjusted again. I mentioned this to one of my students recently and she said she has a little note that she places on her machine when it's in sleep mode so she would never have that happen. Well, I would still be concerned because we may not always have control of turning it on and off. I live in an area that frequently experiences electrical outages during storms. When the power comes back on, the machine is set to on so it resets itself again.

Sorry for the long post! I hope it helps some of you and do enjoy this board and these types of discussion. Thanks!

I have a computerized machine and leave the needle and foot up. I just received a Singer 401 with fabric and the foot and needle down through the fabric, so I am doing the same for it.

even the repair service leaves the pressure foot down with fabric under it. that is the way my Mom taught me so 60 years later I'm still doing it that way.

the purpose of the fabric is to keep dust bunnies, pet hair etc. out of the feed dogs. not that anybody has them.

I leave the pressure foot down with a piece of fabric under it....also have needle in down position too. There is a reason for this but I can remember are the explanation.

Thanks for the response. It is very helpful. Thanks to the starter of the thread and all of the others who responded.

Long, but really thorough and helpful! Thanks Joanne!

I know my mechanic leaves the foot down with fabric under it but the needle up. I leave the fooot down but have to admit I don't put the fabric under it.
Thinking about this while reading everyone else's replies I got to thinking:- When the foot is down the tension is on, when it's up the tension is off. Just a thought to ponder.