SharonTX

Thank you all for the suggestions. Does anyone know of stores locally that sells a generic darning foot. As in hancock's, hobby lobby or do I need to go to a dealer?

My machine is a low shank

Jingle

I just use my darning/FMQ foot, don't pay attention to if or how much it hops. I watched Leah Day and wasn't very impressed. I guess it's what you get use to. The foot is metal, I have done so many quilts with it I just don't notice any down sides. I love FMQ.

Prism99

Not sure if places like JoAnn's and Hancock's have them on hand. I would think that a JoAnn's that sells sewing machines would carry them. Otherwise they are widely available online. Here are two examples from Amazon. One is plastic, and one is metal. Typically the metal ones are preferred because they are stronger and last longer.

http://www.amazon.com/Distinctive-Fr...k+darning+foot (plastic)

http://www.amazon.com/Distinctive-Da...k+darning+foot (metal)

SharonTX

Thanks everyone.

I just purchased a metal open toe darning foot from ebay. It's whats recommended for my machine and other brands, so hopefully this new one will be better. No more practice unless I can find a generic one here in my town, before I receive the metal one.

Rita2011

My Husqvarna Saphire 875 Quilt is a short shant machine and comes with a "floating" foot (an "R" foot). I've found I much prefer it to the darning foot (a hopping foot). Perhaps your machine has an adapter to take accessories from other short shank manufacturers.

azwendyg

Sharon,

When I was first learning to FMQ, I stumbled onto some information that really helped me...

With my quilt sandwich under the foot of my machine,
I put the presser foot down and make sure the needle is in its highest position.
then I place a small straight pin on top of the quilt sandwich underneath the presser foot.
Next I adjust the pressure on the presser foot so that I can easily slide the pin around, but not have a big gap.

When the pressure is right, the quilt will side easily when the needle is up and will hold between the foot and the throat plate when the needle is down as the stitch completes. Having this adjusted right will help smooth out the motion of the quilt as you move it around and will prevent bending/breaking needles.

If you are not able to adjust your foot to allow the quilt to move freely when the needle is up and the foot is down, it might not be quite the right fit on your machine.

auntpiggylpn

I have purchased generic feet at Hancock fabrics here in Indiana.

NanaCsews2

My favorite is the blue Bigfoot.
http://www.nancysnotions.com/product...t+low+shank.do
I also ordered a few of the Distinctive feet, and to me the darning foot works just as good as the Bigfoot.

QuiltE

I do not know what Brother offers.
Though usually, what one brand has, another offers too, so look around.

Janome has the traditional Darning Foot for FMQ. PLUS a special FMQ foot with three interchangeable feet!

The joy of this special foot is that there is NO hopping ..... PLUS you can adjust the distance between the foot and the quilt sandwich, so that the sandwich just slides nicely between the foot and the machine bed. As Goldilocks would say ... not too loose and not too tight!

I detested FMQing and once I tried this foot, I knew I would soon come to enjoy the process.
And now am working on developing then mastering, my FMQing abilities!

meanmom

I have 2 of the feet for my machine for FMQ. I think I accidently packed up the stores foot with mine at a class. It was almost 2 years before I noticed. Mine had a loop on the foot so I cut the front out the way Leah Day shows on her site. I tried her method of fixing the foot so it didn't hop. It didn't work on my machine, I have a JAnome 9700. My machine just wouldn't sew.