Janome Horizon 8900 - which quilting foot?
Hi everyone!
I recently bought a janome 8900 and I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the feet for quilting. I do free motion quilting and am still a beginner at machine quilting (I've finished one blanket so far and it didn't turn out all that awful). My old machine was a brother innov'is 30 which had exactly one quilting and darning foot: the type that moves up and down while you quilt and really releases the quilt between stitches. The Janome has the same foot, but it's the only one that's not called "quilting" foot in the manual. There are three other quilting feet, an open one, a closed one and a transparent plate shaped one. I tried the closed foot first and was shocked at the big difference to the "bouncing" foot I was used to. I could hardly move the quilt under the foot (with my supreme slider and quilting gloves I can manage now, though), the fabric would bunch up in front of the foot and at "intersections" I sometimes got stuck. I've loosened the foot tension a bit (on the quilting foot) and I have now tried all three feet and realized in direct comparison, that the fixed feet do give you a lot more control over the quilting than the bouncing foot. I like the plate foot best, so far, as it goes over seams the easiest. I'm still having trouble getting used to these feet, but maybe it will just take some practice. However, when I compare the quilting i did with the old machine and the bouncing foot to what I've done with the new machine so far, the quilting looked way, way better with the old one! I can't even do a circle anymore - and they were perfectly round before.
So I guess my question is: Which foot is the best to use? do some of you use the bouncing foot? I did have some issues with it, but so far the result still looked better. Or will it just take some more practice and then I'll be better with the fixed feet than I could ever be with the bouncing one? Any ideas, anyone? And why am I having trouble going over seams? The foot is (hardly) touching the quilt at all!
I'd definitely appreciate your help and any thoughts you might have on this subject.
Greetings from Germany!
:-)
Anya