A Walking View
 

When binding (yeah, I’m still on that), how far into the process is the walking foot necessary? I attach the binding to the quilt with my walking foot but is the walking foot still necessary after that? Can I switch to a different foot when sewing the already-attached binding to the front?

My walking foot is pretty big with wide presser feet and the view is really obstructed when trying to sew close to the edge of the binding on the front.

Well I am like you, still trying to figure the way that works best for me out. I use the walking foot when I fold over and sew the final step of the binding on. I just like the extra help the walking foot gives me

The walking foot's obstructed view has always bothered me... so I almost never use it for any part of the process

Ditto - I also find the walking foot obscures the view but I like that all those layers go through the machine smoothly.

There are no hard and fast rules - use what you find the easiest.

I only use the walking foot to put the binding on the front of the quilt and then I hand sew the binding to the back of the quilt. I too find the walking foot too big and bulky.

I have plastic feet for my Pfaff. The "walking" can be used for more that one type of foot. I use Walking for all my sewing. See if you are able to find a straight stitch foot that is plastic.

I don't use the walking foot at all. I use my quarter inch foot. I cut all my binding on the bias which makes it slightly stretchy. Since I know that the pieced top next to the feed dogs will be pulled through slightly more than the top, I lightly stretch the binding so that all is even when I finish sewing it to the back of the quilt. If I have a lot of seams in the pieced top, I will run a 1/8" stay stitch around the edge to make sure nothing moves before I sew the binding to the quilt back. Picture the piecing on the bottom next to the feed dogs and the solid quilt back up next to the binding. I then turn and sew on the top and call it done. If I was doing a show quilt I would hand stitch but not for every day quilts.

I agree with Jordan. I have three walking foots (feet?). One is relatively open, while the others have extremely limited views. I find I’m almost always using the more open one.

I don't have a walking foot for my quilting machine. I put the binding on the front with the regular foot, turn it to the back and sew from the front with a SITD foot.

This is my prefered way of putting on my bindings. walking foot to the front and hand stitch on the back. It never fails and is neat all the way around.