Walking foot vs free motion
 

Being new to quilting and finding out how much it coast to have someone LAQ my quilts I have decided to FMQ all of my quilts myself. I do not know when you use a walking foot vs FMQ foot. Is there any YouTube tuts to watch. I know there are soooo many of you out there that are so generous with your knowledge from your many years of experience . I thank you all for your help and guidance . THANK YOU.

Do a search on this board and the internet for "free motion quilting". You will find too many sites to list here. Also the key to good/easy FMQ is to PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. There is a BIG difference between walking foot and free motion foot. WF is used to do straight line stitching such as SID, diaginal lines, etc and can also be used for "gentle curves" FMQ foot is used with the feed dogs down or covered so the machine does not moves the fabric but rather you move the fabric in directions that you want and to make patterns. I do my own FMQ because I can not afford to send it out (more fabric for me). I do mostly meandering and stippling. It is not perfect but it is good enough for me

Here is a very recent post on this:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...t-t217963.html

Here's a link to Leah Day's web site with different patterns, with videos:

http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.c...5-designs.html

Plan on spending some time practicing before attempting a 'real' project.

A walking foot pulls or feeds the fabric through - just like the feed dogs on the bottom. You would only use them for straight quilting, i.e. stitch in the ditch or grid work. A FMQ foot is when you DROP the feed dogs so you can move the fabric in all directions to make any design you want, i.e. feathers, meander etc.

You can't see too well with a walking foot! That's why I use a Pfaff machine. The IDT does the same and you CAN see.

You can do quite a few of the simpler border type templates using an open toe and IDT. I've done it on clothing using the bean stitch.

All over FMQ and very curvy designs won't work. Full FMQ then.

I've heard other people say that you can't see with a walking foot, so it must be true with some walking feet. But with mine (Bernina's) there's great visibility, also with the after-market foot I purchased for my older Singer (not vintage, just an older one).

this depends on your brand of machine i have an open toe walking foot for my brother so don't have a visibility problem

also you can do gentle curves with walking foot. this is my favorite machine quilting reference book, has a lot of practice projects techniques, very thorough, highly recommend it

http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Machine-Q...chine+quilting

Hi kathbug,

Quilting is fun and finishes off the quilt in such a way that makes it last much longer, adds interest and can add to the design. My suggestion to you is to check out a book from the library on just quilting. ( You could buy one too, I am talking about economy quilting) There are many of them out there and hopefully there is a good one at your local library.

You see, understanding the quilting process has many different sides to it. Also the way a quilt is quilted is really dependent on it's use. Is it a utilitarian quilt? A masterpiece? A baby quilt? All have thier own type of quilting that could be applied. Some with light, medium or heavy quilting. Then there is the concideration of the design and how it will lay after it is quilted (supported) by where the stitches will cover and what is not.

There is also what type of batting, threads, backing. Ect ect... you see?? Many people don't read what comes next after making the top. That is a shame, because the creative process of designing and executing the quilting onto the quilt is FUN!

Give yourself the gift of reading and understanding the quilting, you will be much more confident and know better what a quilt needs.

I hope I didn't go on too much. But, I wish someone had explained this to me years ago. I sometimes use both the walking foot, fmq, and outline (echo) quilting. Combining the different stitching on one quilt to finish it.