FMQ using vintage/antique machines.
 

Hello to all,

Having collected machine and as of January this year started using them for quilting, I have a question on FMQ. I am putting the finishing touches of a third quilt for the Murphy bed that is also near completion for my granddaughter. I am also attaching the backing on 4 French Bread table runner and may employ FMQ on them. I fabricated a dog cover plate that seems that it may work on all my Singers and with a further refinement will fit on my late 1800's Standard treadle. What do those of you that do FMQ think of my cover plate? Will it work or do you see a problem?? Any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rodney in Ponchatoula, La.

The only problem I have encountered using a cover plate - was that the clearance of the hopping foot at full "hop" was decreased by about half, and it interfered with easy motion of the fabric, particularly over seams. Ticked me off enough I only did a bit before I switched over to the 301. On my 15 - the foot is about 3/16" off the bed at it's highest "hop" and with the cover plate I was using (think it was a Singer 328) it cut it down to under 1/8" and that wasn't enough.

Since I was doing it just to see how the machine would handle it, I wasn't willing to modify the foot to see if I could get more height out of it.

You don't "have" to cover or drop the feed dogs for fm work. I don't and have never had a problem. I just lessen the presser foot pressure and set the stitch length to zero. on one machine I have I don't even use a hopping foot I just use the regular ss foot. Originally those covers for the old machines were made for darning, which covers a much smaller area and you would generally move the piece much slower so the issue Cathy mentioned wouldn't really be that much of an issue.
I think if it works for you though, then it's a great idea.

Cari

Exactly. There is no need for a cover plate. And as Macy said, it may interfere with the hopping foot height. It would have to be tested with several darning/FMQing feet to see if there is enough clearance. Personally, I wouldn't FMQ on small throat machines like the Spartan etc. and if I had to, I'd just do as Cari said.

I cut a hole in template plastic and taped it over. Worked just fine.

I am afraid that it is too thick, and would interfere with the smooth movement of the fabric under the presser foot. The old-fashioned solution was to tape a business card over the feed dogs, but I've FMQ'd without covering the feed dogs, like Cari and Candace have. It wasn't easy, though - my mom's vintage Singer (mid-70's?) just doesn't have much room between the needle and the plate - could only do very thin blocks.

And keep in mind also, that there was no foot on the presser bar when darning on most old machines. The fabric being darned was clamped into a hoop to hold the fabric taut without the need for a foot to hold the fabric down when the needle was ascending. Therefore, the additional height of the feed dog cover had no effect what so ever (no foot to be interfered with). The feed dog cover plates weren’t designed for hopping feet.

CD in Oklahoma

Didn't some of the older machines come with that funky little darning spring that slipped over the needle and was to be used instead of a foot? And there's also the supposedly rare FW darning foot.

Cari

MUV (Lizzie Lenard) has a video on her blog that shows her fmq on her old machine using plastic wrap to cover the bed of the machine. I have forgotten what she does about the feed dogs but it would probably be a good video to watch. Personally, I love the ingenuity you put forth to conjure up and manufacture a cover plate but from the looks of the photo, it appears that your quilt might get hung up on the raised edges of the cover. Maybe not, so guess you would have to try it first to see how you do.

Here is her video in case you want to watch it (maybe you have seen it already?):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXJ...eZc5g1DU4tdM9A

Thanks to all for your input. I will play around with the various solutions when I receive my hopity hop thigamagiggy.:)

Rodney