…and that’s just what it’ll do…

Seriously though, lets talk walking foot! To be honest, this is on of the key weapons in my quilt making arsenal!

When I was still quilting on my domestic machine, this was seriously one of my favorite feet on my machine when modern quilting started to become more and more popular. This foot is a pretty much a MUST HAVE when it comes to straight line quilting on your machine.

The dual feed type action of this foot helps keep the layers of the quilt from shifting while you are stitching. This comes in super handy when doing a long straight line on a quilt. A lot of the time, if you attempt to do this with a regular sewing foot you will find weebles and wobbles along the line, even though you were quite studious in keeping on the straight and narrow stitching! This is because your foot has likely pressed down and shifted your layers, creating a wavy quilting line. Using the pressure foot will diminish this problem, because it is helping to “feed” the layers through more evenly with less pull and distortion.

When else does a walking foot make sense?

When you are attaching your binding. When attaching your binding, you are now dealing with FIVE layers of fibers if you doing the double fold binding method. (The one where you machine sew it to the front, then hand turn and hand stitched the folded edge to the back.)

When piecing rag or denim quilt that have a pretty hefty thickness going on. Against, it helps keep the layers from shifting and can help you keep an accurate seam allowance much more easily.

When you are sewing with stripes or plaids and need the pattern to line up. Why? Again, it comes down to avoiding that old enemy the fabric shift! Using the walking foot here can make sure those precious minutes/hours spend fussy cutting and pinning the pieces don’t go to waste!

So there it is! I know that the walking foot can be a pricier foot some some makes and models, but I assure you it will be well worth the purchase!