Using walking foot for piecing?
 

Any opinions on using a walking foot when piecing? Some of my fabric is a bit stretchy and I thought the walking foot might help.

Thanks

Joanne

I have a Pfaff with built in walking foot and I always use when piecing or sewing unless I am doing free motion.

I have used it. More because my walking foot on my Janome is also built in and I had forgotten to change the foot. Except when using decorative stitches I don't see that it changes anything.

My Bernina 780 has dual feed which work with several feet, including 1/4" piecing feet. The dual feed works just like a walking foot, in that the fabric is gripped from both the bottom and top to move both top and bottom fabric evenly thru the machine. I do have a walking foot that I mainly use with my smaller machine that doesn't have the dual feed system. The walking foot is really too wide to get an accurate 1/4" seam. Does your machine allow you to adjust needle positions left or right?

Without more information about your machine, it really wouldn't be possible for us to answer the question . . .so you might not know until you sew a few seams and judge for yourself.

what fabric are you using, walking foot can work. I have also used a roller foot on minky

My Pfaff has an integrated walking foot and I use it all the time when piecing. I can't imagine piecing without it!

I don't like mine except for quilting, but try it and see. I'm always changing the feet and trying different things, never know til you try! Good Luck!

I tried using my walking foot for piecing. It's a separate foot, not built in. I found it a little cumbersome and went back to my regular foot. I also don't use my 1/4 inch foot since the regular foot feeds better and I've found the "sweet spot" to get accurate seams. As Latrinka suggested, try it and see how it works for you. No right or wrong, just what works.

If it works for you, use it! I also found it cumbersome and hard to get accurate seams, so only use it for quilting.

I've used it a couple of times for piecing blocks that had a lot of dimensional components. It worked okay. I just had to go very slowly to ensure the stitches formed at the proper length (that may be due to my old machine).

I'd probably try heavily starching the fabric first & if it's really too, too stretchy, it may be time to think about adding a stabilizer so it doesn't continue to stretch throughout the life of the quilt.