Sewing with Nancy - Fancy Footworks series
 

I watched this show today and it got me to wondering about which feet would I get enough use out of.

She demonstrated a foot for making flowers. Don't know how many projects I could use that for.

Does anyone here have a special foot that you bought that you really love and use a lot?

Also, I watched Quilting Arts and the guest demonstrated a walking foot that had a guide in it for stitch in the ditch. Does any one have this foot and is it worth it? Does the guide part attach separately or do I need to buy the entire foot - those walking/even feed feet can get pricey.

One foot that I bought quite a while back was an open toe applique foot that only cost 5$. It was for a Bernette65. I found that it fits my Babylock just fine and I use it more than I do the regular foot that came with the Babylock. That one has a piece of clear plastic that really isn't that clear and it's hard to see where the needle comes down which is very important in applique.

I use my button foot a lot. It came with the Babylock and it's really easy to use to sew a button down with. Only used the button hole foot a few times.

Can't stand the foot with the 1/4" guide for the Babylock. I can sew a long strip, like two jelly strips and look back and the seam will be all wonky. But if I use the regular foot and a command strip my seam lines are straight.

So, what specialty do you have that you use enough to make it worthwhile?

I have the stitch in the ditch foot and love it, makes my "ditches" much more accurate.

I use my walking foot on my Baby Lock at least half the time for general sewing. The general straight stitch foot (the one with the "clear" plastic) has gotten sort of cloudy over time on mine. I agree it's a bit hard to see what what the needle is doing. I dislike the 1/4" foot with the flange on it also. The little metal tab is too flexible and wobbles all over. When I used to do a lot of garment sewing, I had a generic adjustable zipper foot that I liked SO much better than the one that came with the machine that just switches from side to side.

My new Brother Dreamweaver has the "O" foot for FMQ and I absolutely love it. I personally do not have a SID foot, but my quilty girlfriend down the street swears by hers.

That has been around for a long time. She also has hints for using feet for other purposes. Small piping can be made with a pintuck foot for example.

That flower foot may look like fun but please check if your machine can use it. I think some Pfaffs can't, and there may be others.

Me too, I hate the flange, also love the O foot. I also like the monogramming foot.

Love my 1/4 inch foot on my Elna flange is not flexible very accurate. Even feed is built into my Elna Love love love it!!!

I have several feet that I really like alot. My invisable zipper foot, my 1/4in with guide works great. Of course my FMQ foot also which I also use when doing emb. My machine has an interchangeable walking foot so I use it quite a bit. I have the SID for it, the 1/4 for it, the dual needle for it where I can either use dual needles but it also allows me to do ziz zag dec stitches with it. My SID also allows me to do the decrotive stitches with it and I've gotten some really great results when putting on binding with it. I also use my elastic guide and my gimping foot. I went to Walmarts and bought the little ziplock bags made to hold your daily meds (got it in the med dept) and I mark on the outside of the bag what foot it is and also put the directions in the bag with the foot. Vikin also came out with a circle foot that makes flowers too, it was the first foot that got me away from my thump tack and eraser method. I guess out of all of them I'm really glad Viking came up with the interchangeable walking foot because I can do so much with it including going backwards. When you are doing long strips of sewing its really nice. My daughter just made a quilt with the back being fleece and was amazed at how much nicer it looked than the first one she made with just a regular foot on it. No puckers at all.

Thanks for everyone's input!

I bit the bullet and ordered the stitch in the ditch and the daisy foot. Pretty good prices. DH was ordering from Amazon and needed more on the order to get free shipping. LOL I of course put my order in!

If the flower/daisy works, I will practice it on "pockets" for tote bags. Also, if it works, be great to add some flowers to basket blocks. Hmm, I think I will have some fun with it.

Got a quilt that I can sure use that stitch in the ditch. It's too busy on the blocks for anything else.