Miscellaneous...
A few bits on sewing "Feet."
Look at the pic below and decide which foot you have. Only then can you get the right attachment to
your machine. Yours falls into one of
these 3 categories. Be sure to read the
article by Beth Pierce below….
At times a
walking foot can be a great thing to have when sewing light materials. I used a walking foot for a long time before
I discovered the Serger type sewing machine.
I soon learned to weld layers of fabric together while hot-cutting them,
“welding” them to size and then serging them.
This sews the weld inside the serged seam, really anchoring the edges of
the sails. I feel it eliminates th need for having to deal with
hemlines. IT also makes an extremely
quick seam to go together and is very strong.
The method eliminates the need of a walking foot, too! I've yet to have one of these type seams come
apart.
The cording foot, above, is used to sew
"piping" or "cording" into seams to create effects, or in
our case, to make seams a LOT stronger.
The cording foot guides the line or cord to fall just in front of, and
in line with the needle(s) as you sew the seams. Cording feet can be purchased for both
standard sewing machines and sergers. I
use the serger, mostly and mine came with hole in the foot already to use as an
input for the Dacron line. After the
cord is attached and the serged seam complete, I fold the seam over flat on the
backside of the sail, hiding the cord, and zig-zag stitch it down with the
longest and widest zig-zag stitch I can persuade the machine to make. Above and below are examples of cording, or “piping”
feet, the dual needle one being on a serger...
Here’s a article I snitched off of a bulletin board... Thanks, Beth, excellent advice!
THE MANY KINDS
OF FEET....
By Beth Pierce
There are many
kinds of feet for machines: blind hem
foot, bias binding foot, hemmer foot (the one you want) which comes in
different hem widths, zipper foot, chain stitch foot, ruffler foot, darning
foot, embroidery foot, buttonhole foot (yes, it makes buttonholes for you while
you watch), and a button hold down foot (to sew on buttons) to name a few. These are my most commonly used feet.
The thing you
need to keep in mind while buying feet is how high your shank is. The shank is the top part of the foot, where
the screw meets the machine, down to the machine bed. Shanks come in different heights--low shank
or high shank.
The low shank foot I believe has a 1"
clearance and the high shank has a 1-1/2" clearance. There is even a slant shank for Singer
machines, but I won't get into that. If
you buy one type of shank, such as a high shank foot, and you have a low shank
machine, it won't have the clearance you need to insert your fabric.
You can also
get snap on feet which snap on the bottom of the shank. These are useful because you won't have to
unscrew the shank all the time in order to change the foot; you just snap off
the foot by "bending" it back, and snap it on by lowering the presser
foot. These are nice but if you don't
get them snapped on correctly, the foot will come off and you will break your
needle.
Many websites
have feet for sale, as long as you know what your shank size is. It's possible you have a short shank, but
don't guess--measure. And you can find
feet at yard sales for a fraction of the price.
But you have to take your tape measure or your zipper foot with you.
There are
several books on the market to show you how to use your feet, however, some
aren't complete--including the
Enjoy hunting
for and using these invaluable tools.
Beth,
with enough feet to house an army…
Best of
Luck!! Bill < mailto:NPWBill@cox.net>