Accustitch Stitch regulator
04-22-2023, 06:14 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2023
Location: Maryland
Posts: 5
Accustitch Stitch regulator
Hi, I have been looking at the Accustitch Stitch regulator for a domestic straight stitch machine such as a Juki. It is made by Innova and you attach it to you own machine and it regulates the stitches for free motion quilting. Does anyone have any experience with it. It costs $1000 and I really would like some personal reviews before spending that kind of money. Please let me know if you have any hands on experience or know of someone who uses it.
04-24-2023, 12:45 PM
#2
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Va.
Posts: 5,752
Hi serene3779. Have you checked out the videos that are posted on Linda'sElectric quilters? They show it being used. Based on the videos, I'm not sure if it has more than one regulated mode. It looked to me like it doesn't have an option for the needle to keep moving when you stop, which aids in getting good sharp corners when you are doing geometric shapes. When the person doing the demo stopped moving the quilt, the machine stopped and then started back up when he resumed moving the quilt. This can be helpful sometimes if you're doing ruler work where you are needing to reposition the ruler a lot, but it can also lead to problems with the first stitch being longer than the rest. Some companies call that mode "precision" and it can be very uncomfortable to use when doing freehand fmq work because it feels a little jerky on the starts which is what often leads to the longer first stitch. I noticed that that was the case whenever the guy demonstrating it on ELQ stopped to reposition his hands and then restarted. You might want to check to see it it has a mode where the needle keeps moving up and down (at as slow a rate as you want it to) when you stop to turn a corner- some companies call that "cruise mode" and it's really handy. I use cruise mode most of the time with the regulator built into the table on my Sweet Sixteen. I set the needle default speed to a very slow number of stitches per minute (or for some machines they go by percentage of the machine's top speed) and then set the number of stitches per inch to whatever I want- usually 12, but sometimes more if I'm doing micro-quilting. The needle then moves slowly up and down if I keep the pedal depressed but stop moving the quilt, this lets me get a good sharp point/corner on geometric designs like stars, squares, etc.
Before I got my Sweet Sixteen I used to use my Brother PQ1500s for all my quilting. That machine is like the single stitch Juki. I found that it was fairly easy to control my stitch length and keep it regular just by matching my machine speed (using the pedal) to how fast I was moving the quilt- it gets easier to do the more you practice and you can eventually get to where you learn to hear the machine and make constant small adjustments with your pedal foot while quilting so that even when your hands are speeding up and slowing down you get consistent stitch length without needing a stitch regulator. And if you want the needle to stop when you stop moving the fabric, all you need to do is take your foot off the pedal. You also have more control when you start moving the machine again because you can slightly depress the pedal to get the needle moving before you start to move the quilt, which helps eliminate that long first stitch. Based on what I saw of the demonstration videos, I decided that it wouldn't be worth $1000 to me to add it to my PQ1500s, even if I didn't have the Sweet Sixteen. My thoughts on that might change if it has more than one regulated mode.
Rob
Before I got my Sweet Sixteen I used to use my Brother PQ1500s for all my quilting. That machine is like the single stitch Juki. I found that it was fairly easy to control my stitch length and keep it regular just by matching my machine speed (using the pedal) to how fast I was moving the quilt- it gets easier to do the more you practice and you can eventually get to where you learn to hear the machine and make constant small adjustments with your pedal foot while quilting so that even when your hands are speeding up and slowing down you get consistent stitch length without needing a stitch regulator. And if you want the needle to stop when you stop moving the fabric, all you need to do is take your foot off the pedal. You also have more control when you start moving the machine again because you can slightly depress the pedal to get the needle moving before you start to move the quilt, which helps eliminate that long first stitch. Based on what I saw of the demonstration videos, I decided that it wouldn't be worth $1000 to me to add it to my PQ1500s, even if I didn't have the Sweet Sixteen. My thoughts on that might change if it has more than one regulated mode.
Rob
Last edited by rryder; 04-24-2023 at 12:50 PM.
04-24-2023, 03:50 PM
#3
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2023
Location: Maryland
Posts: 5
Used Sweet Sixteen
Originally Posted by rryder
Hi serene3779. Have you checked out the videos that are posted on Linda'sElectric quilters? They show it being used. Based on the videos, I'm not sure if it has more than one regulated mode. It looked to me like it doesn't have an option for the needle to keep moving when you stop, which aids in getting good sharp corners when you are doing geometric shapes. When the person doing the demo stopped moving the quilt, the machine stopped and then started back up when he resumed moving the quilt. This can be helpful sometimes if you're doing ruler work where you are needing to reposition the ruler a lot, but it can also lead to problems with the first stitch being longer than the rest. Some companies call that mode "precision" and it can be very uncomfortable to use when doing freehand fmq work because it feels a little jerky on the starts which is what often leads to the longer first stitch. I noticed that that was the case whenever the guy demonstrating it on ELQ stopped to reposition his hands and then restarted. You might want to check to see it it has a mode where the needle keeps moving up and down (at as slow a rate as you want it to) when you stop to turn a corner- some companies call that "cruise mode" and it's really handy. I use cruise mode most of the time with the regulator built into the table on my Sweet Sixteen. I set the needle default speed to a very slow number of stitches per minute (or for some machines they go by percentage of the machine's top speed) and then set the number of stitches per inch to whatever I want- usually 12, but sometimes more if I'm doing micro-quilting. The needle then moves slowly up and down if I keep the pedal depressed but stop moving the quilt, this lets me get a good sharp point/corner on geometric designs like stars, squares, etc.
Before I got my Sweet Sixteen I used to use my Brother PQ1500s for all my quilting. That machine is like the single stitch Juki. I found that it was fairly easy to control my stitch length and keep it regular just by matching my machine speed (using the pedal) to how fast I was moving the quilt- it gets easier to do the more you practice and you can eventually get to where you learn to hear the machine and make constant small adjustments with your pedal foot while quilting so that even when your hands are speeding up and slowing down you get consistent stitch length without needing a stitch regulator. And if you want the needle to stop when you stop moving the fabric, all you need to do is take your foot off the pedal. You also have more control when you start moving the machine again because you can slightly depress the pedal to get the needle moving before you start to move the quilt, which helps eliminate that long first stitch. Based on what I saw of the demonstration videos, I decided that it wouldn't be worth $1000 to me to add it to my PQ1500s, even if I didn't have the Sweet Sixteen. My thoughts on that might change if it has more than one regulated mode.
Rob
Before I got my Sweet Sixteen I used to use my Brother PQ1500s for all my quilting. That machine is like the single stitch Juki. I found that it was fairly easy to control my stitch length and keep it regular just by matching my machine speed (using the pedal) to how fast I was moving the quilt- it gets easier to do the more you practice and you can eventually get to where you learn to hear the machine and make constant small adjustments with your pedal foot while quilting so that even when your hands are speeding up and slowing down you get consistent stitch length without needing a stitch regulator. And if you want the needle to stop when you stop moving the fabric, all you need to do is take your foot off the pedal. You also have more control when you start moving the machine again because you can slightly depress the pedal to get the needle moving before you start to move the quilt, which helps eliminate that long first stitch. Based on what I saw of the demonstration videos, I decided that it wouldn't be worth $1000 to me to add it to my PQ1500s, even if I didn't have the Sweet Sixteen. My thoughts on that might change if it has more than one regulated mode.
Rob
