It does look rather funny, but the mechanism causes the presser foot to bounce, thus allowing all of the layers of your quilt to feed through your machine at the same time.
This reduces, and can even eliminate any puckers and / or tucks in your quilt as it is being machine quilted. A walking foot is easy to use and relatively inexpensive. They are available at amazon.com.
One thing you need to be sure of is whether your machine is a high shank or low shank. That is how long the stem is that holds the presser foot. A quick look at your sewing machine and then at the presser foot will tell you the answer.
Some additional things that will help with your machine quilting include:
- Using a basting spray to baste your quilt together. This amazing product will secure all 3 layers together without using pins. This means that you are even less likely to create puckers in your quilt
- Instead of stitching exactly in the ditch, stitch about 1/4 inch away from your seam lines; that way, if your stitching lines don't match exactly with the seam line, it won't be as noticeable
- Use light thread unless you are quilting on dark fabric. For some reason, dark thread shows all of your "mistakes" more than light thread
- Use a print fabric to hide your machine quilting stitches. Your stitches will be hidden even more if you use matching thread
- Spray starch your backing fabric until it is stiff. This will help it glide over the surface of the table as well as prevent puckers and tucks, and it will wash out easily when your quilt is finished - if it doesn't wear out as your quilt it.
Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
www.How-to-Quilt.com
www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
