Today was my second and final quilting class.
My last chance to get help with the vintage tea towel quilt.
I was feeling quite chuffed as I turned up to class.
On Friday, I’d had a phone call to say that the swizzy new bit of kit I had ordered had arrived.
The swizzy new gadget is a walking foot, for my Sapphire machine.
A walking foot is designed to feed layers of fabric and/or batting through the machine evenly.
“Just the thing” I thought, with some enthusiasm, “to make life easier and get that work-in-progress finished quickly and professionally!”
The foot had to be ordered specially. It was expensive, but I figured it was worth it, since I plan to do more quilting (now that the fear has been vanquished).
And I’m something of a perfectionist when it comes to patchwork and quilting.
Well, sewing generally, really.
Only slightly daunted by the complicated-looking bits of metal emerging from the box, I followed the instructions and hitched up the new foot.
I was double-chuffed that I managed it without the tutor’s help.
And that should have been where the fun started. But instead, it was where it ended.
Because then it all started to go wrong…
See those teeny-tiny stitches? Well, that’s not me being neat. That’s the quilt not feeding through the machine properly.
Of course, when the tutor put her sample through, it worked perfectly.
Typical.
My messed-up stitches were so tiny, I had an absolute ‘mare trying to unpick them.
And when I finally got them out and re-did it, I found it happening again. Every time in fact – unless I sewed at a snail’s pace and virtually pushed the quilt under the needle.
After a couple of hours of that, my hands didn’t half ache. 
And in addition to that, I had puckers. And tucks. Underneath. So out the stitching came again.
So much for the walking foot’s claim that it was “perfect for quilting”.
Over the three hours of the class I got better at controlling the stitch length. But not as good as I’d like.
And it’s feeling to me like I might just have added another evil appliance to my collection.
Unless anyone else out there can enlighten me: are walking feet worth it? Do they work?
Or have I just been swizzed? ♥
OK, the burning question is, do you have the forked thing that looks like a toy robot’s claw on the right hand side hooked over the screw arm that holds the needle in place? It has to travel up and down with the needle, as it’s the thing that makes the top feed dogs clamp down on the top fabric and move it along. If it’s correctly installed, then I’m a bit stumped, unless you have adjustable foot pressure on your machine, and need to lighten it a bit due to the thickness of the layers. And yes, I would say that a properly working walking foot is indispensable for quilting easily, despite your experience. Might be worth lugging both machine and foot along to your nearest sewing machine shop for a bit of a demo of the problem, to see if they can help.
Hi Kate, yes, I have the hook over the needle arm. The tutor checked my set-up. And I do have adjustable foot pressure. I re-set it to the pressure given in the foot’s instructions, but then adjusted it again when I ran into problems. I haven’t yet found a pressure setting that makes any difference to the outcome.
My quilting class was held at the dealership where I bought the machine and they’re very knowledgable. I might ring up and speak to the owner though, if I continue to have problems, as she is the real machine expert, as opposed to the quilting tutor (with whom, if I’m absolutely honest, I wasn’t overly impressed!).
Good luck. If you can get it working correctly, it’s a revelation… Makes a huge difference. And I think you’re right to talk to the owner.
I’m contemplating getting a walking foot for my machine too, but I think I’ll wait and see how you get on with yours now!
Well so far not very good! I’m going to do some more quilting today. My tutor suggested that the (cheap) wadding I use might be the culprit, as it’s too “lofty”. But I thought that dealing with the wadding was the whole point of having a walking foot in the first place? I’ve managed with the lofty wadding and no walking foot on my previous quilts, so I’m yet to be convinced!
Part of the reason I’m undecided about getting a walking foot is because my mum just got great results quilting a piece using the normal presser foot and brute force! She was using an old blanket instead of polyester wadding though, so loftiness not an issue!
It is worth checking that you have the correct walking foot for your machine – I refer you to my own troubled experience – http://lemonloves.co.uk/a-breakthrough/ – and wish you good luck!
Oh, how frustrating for you! I’d have been livid!
I’m hoping that isn’t the case for me – I actually ordered the foot from the dealers where I bought the machine, and they only sell Viking Husqvarna machines. They are one of the main UK dealers and people travel to them for miles to buy and have their machines serviced. Plus the lady who advised me was the owner, who really knows her stuff. She taught the free “get to know your machine” course they offer all new owners, so I know she’s very good. I might ring and ask her advice if I can’t sort out the problem myself.
I would definitely go back and ask her for her thoughts – show her the photo of the tiny stitches (that is exactly what was happening with my ‘wrong’ foot), she may have some tips or hints – I wonder if it is a tension thing … I hope you find a solution, since getting the ‘right’ foot, I have really enjoyed the small amount of quilting I have done – definitely hoping to do more this year too 🙂
I have the same machine and same walking foot and I find that the stitch length can shorten when the quilt is “heavy”, for example when stitching the middle of the quilt. Even with an extension table, I need to lift the quilt to ensure that there is no drag and that the foot can feed the fabric. Perhaps your tutor’s sample worked because it was smaller than your quilt.
You could be right. Although, I was working with a BIG table during the class, and very careful to ensure the quilt was free-moving, not dragged down by it’s own weight.
The thing I found weird was that it was like free-machining, as in the stitch changed length the faster I went! I had to slow right down to ensure my stitches were big enough, and keep to a constant speed to get them even. Very odd.
May I have your approval to blog this on twitter?
Why, of course! 🙂
I’m so sorry to hear about this-how distressing! I would say that getting used to using a walking foot can be a strange experience. I have also found that the ‘double feed dogs’ can mark my fabric, which is always a bit sad. Good luck with getting to the bottom of this!