I've never ordered from Clotilde's. Their shipping is rather high. April has free shipping and even if something is a $1 higher, the free shipping offsets it. Her FMQ foot is wonderful. I took my FM class at my LQS that sells Janomes. The instructor was very impressed with my foot.

That darning spring is a cool little deal. i wonder if the Elna would like it. She's very fussy about generic feet, but there's nothing to that one.

I used one. They are pretty fragile and not very well made.
Tommie

How do you choose a FMQ foot?

If the plug is good, all you need is the wire. I bought mine at a local hardware store (Bestway) but checked Menards first and some kid there said I needed a special kind of wire for sewing machines. He had some lightweight cord like extension cord and some heavy weight cord like for industrial wiring. When I went to the hardware store I told him what I was doing and he got me the right cord. It was an easy job to rewire because my plugs were good (both ends) but you would have to go to a sewing machine repair place if the plug to the machine was broken. My 66 is missing the two little screws to hold the machine plug together so the previous owner used a heavy rubber band. Works just fine! LOL!

Turn it into a hand-crank! Take the motor and plug off and add the hand-crank to the machine. Those 99s are so cute!

I saw one of these this weekend at the mini TOGA that I attended. I had a blast at this gathering! So many cool machines to look at, drool over, and play with! The owner of the machine that I saw this weekend demonstrated how the machine sews in different directions just by turning the foot in different directions.

Your machine is gorgeous! Have you ever tried to free-motion with your machine? Although this would be a much slower method to free-motion quilting.

It's really just personal preference. There are open toe, closed toe, all metal, see through plastic, high shank, low shank, slant shank...

I have a "el cheapo" ($12) foot that works fine for me...ordered it from somewhere online...I don't remember where!

Thanks Nancy, I have the parts to rewire, just wasn't sure that the wiring was not something specialized for sewing machines. I'll take the parts with me to the store and hope for a well-informed salesperson. Thanks again.

Just a further note on Bernina feet. They use their own system, not like anyone elses and in their infinite "wisdom" they changed mounting type. So if you've got a classic Bernina 830, it takes "old" feet, I think the numbering is black, but the "new" 830 should use the "new" feet which I think are red numbered. They do make an adaptor foot which will allow you to use generic feet...but I bought my Nina used and it came with a real Nina walking foot. I'm not sure about using an adaptor with a generic walking foot.
You can find both Singer or Simanco feet and a company named Griest or Greist (I've seen it both ways) also made add on feet.

Singers generally come with a standard stright stitch foot (and/or a zig zag foot if the model does that stitch) plus a ruffler, an edger, a small hemmer, a wide angle hemmer, a multi slotted binder, a button foot, a shirring foot and a tucker. You can also buy a darning foot, a 1/4 inch foot of various types, a walking foot, or almost any modern foot to fit your shank. You can also buy an adaptor if you have screw in feet to convert your shank to use flat press on feet.

They also had available a buttonholer of different vintages, going from all metal to plastic "jetson" oval boxes with some plastic and templates inside. They should also have a feed dog cover with the BH.


They made an add on zig-zagger with some templates and then sold boxes of others. I know there are red and blue and I think yellow and green.(i'm not at home to check right this min).

They made a picot edger that could sew two delicate edges together without overlapping.
There are probably more that I can't think of now, but I've had great luck finding the green cardboard boxes of attachments at thrift stores and yard sales. I don't know why, but they seem to get separated from the sewing machine itself. You can also get almost any foot on ebay or from the vintage shops on line...or a lot of them from a modern bricks and mortar store.
If you're interested in some of the feet that I've picked up you can take a look here:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-116176-1.htm

I've given this reference before, but I know it's a pain to look back for it.

i would not free motion on this machine. i slip a leather sleeve with quilted lining or pant heavy leg on and sew it. i use a mono thread in the top, or leather. it is to strong for thin fabric or garment. i hauled this machine plus others all over south/central tex one summer, doing freehand emb, sewing on patches, and making seat covers for bikes in the hot sun at gold wing ralleys, with my son. we had a 35' motor home pulling a 18' trailor.