Walking Foot Sewing Machine Beginners Guide will help you to use it on projects where with difficult fabric to sew or projects with multi layers.
You might think a walking foot is only used to make quilts, I also thought this way, but the more I learn about sewing, it’s clear to me using it will help any sewer to work easier and get professional finish on many projects.
Walking Foot Sewing Machine Beginners Guide
What Is A Walking Foot?
The Walking Foot can be also described as a sewing machine foot that feeds layers of fabric evently as you sew. This is a bulky presser foot with a simple mechanical system that works great as it feeds the upper layer of your project at the same pace as the feed dogs system on you’re sewing machine feeds the lower layer. By working this way, you can sew on projects with multiple layers knowing that all layers will be feed on you’re sewing machine evenly as you sew on.
If you are a beginner sewer and you want to try to make a project with multiple layers, you might have noticed you’re sewing machine might not feed evenly the multiple layers making your project uneven and you might need to get the seam ripper to sew on that project again, but if you keep working with the same presser feet, you might get the same results and you might think sewing is not for you.
Luckily for all sewers around the globe, sewing machine brands always listen to sewers needs and they know making quilts or working with different types of materials is more and more one of the projects for sewing list for many sewers.
Sewing machine brands listen to our needs and they came up with the walking foot to make our lives easier and to get professional finishes on all our projects.
Why To Use A Walking Foot?
In general, this is a sewing machine foot that will make your sewing easier, as it has many benefits when you use it on projects with difficul to sew fabrics.
- Helps to move evenly knit fabrics
- It feeds evenly multiple layers of fabric
- Eliminates the excessive pinning when working on a project with slippery fabrics
- When working on the quilting on your new quilt, it will help to stitch evenly through the three layers of fabric
How To Attach The Walking Foot On Your Sewing Machine
The walking foot comes with a movable bar that should rest on you’re sewing machine needle’s bar, by doing this, when the needle goes up and down the walking foot movable bar will also move up and down, and the walking foot feed dogs will move at the same pace as the dog feed on you’re sewing machine.
By using the walking foot on projects where you use multiple layers or bulky fabrics, you can be sure all layers will be evenly feed, up and down the same and you will get perfect stitching on your project.
When you use a multi purpose presser foot on a project with multiple layers, the feed dogs system on you’re sewing machine will feed the lower layer while the presser feet will make pressure on the upper layer and this will make your project uneven sewn.
When To Use The Walking Foot On Your Sewing Projects
1. Sewing A Multiple Layers Projects
It’s well know by sewers, making a quilt is a project where you’ll be working with two layers of fabric (Summer Quilt) but most of the times you’ll be working with three layers of fabric when making a quilt (top, batting and backing fabric), if you decide to quilt your new quilt on you’re sewing machine, using the walking foot will help you to get better results when you work with straight lines or even with curved quilting pattern on a quilt.
The walking foot comes with a guide that is easily attached to the foot and it can be set up to help you to make stitching lines on the same measure.
2. Bulky Seams
When working on making a new garment, you might face the moment to work with bulky seams often, like when you work on the seams on a new pair of jeans.
When the time comes to make a new seam on your new pair of jeans, you will need to work on multiple layers of fabric when you reach the point where the seams are, to avoid you’re sewing machine to skip some stitches or face the need to help the sewing machine to sew evenly on the seams, by replacing the regular presser feet for the walking foot, you can sew on seams evenly without the need to do anything else.
3. Matching Strips or Other Prints
When working on a project using a fabric with strips or other prints that you want to sew evenly, you need to take your time to match the strips and pinch a few pins, when using a regular presser feet, you might notice the two layers of fabric are not feed evenly as you sew on, when you use the walking foot, both layers of fabric will be feed evenly and you can get a professional looking on matching strips of other prints on your projects.
4. Sewing Knits
When working on a project with knits materials, is easy to see how a knit fabric can get stretched and grow as you sew on, when using the walking foot, you will get better results on you’re sewing.
5 .Perfect Seam Matching
When sewing a project, you will need to work on matching seams often, nothing will make you unhappy as checking those seams and see they didn’t match right, it will take some time to undo the seam and sew on it again.
When using the walking foot, you can be sure you will get those matching seams almost 100 % of the times right!
FAQ For The Walking Foot Sewing Machine Beginners Guide
Is It Worth The Investment Of Purchasing A Walking Foot?
Most of the new sewing machines come with the walking foot included, as I keep working on making new sewing machine reviews, I can see most of the brands know by now how important it is for sewers around the world to get those seams right and they include this presser feet on new models.
But if you already have a sewing machine at home for a few years, it might have no walking foot, you always can check online if you’re sewing machine brand has a walking foot avaliable for purchasing and you can order it online.
Is It Easy For A Beginner To Sew With A Walking Foot?
Yes, it is, it will take you a few minutes to get used to sewing with it, take the time to run a test using different types of fabric, it will help you to know how it works and how to work with it on different projects or types of seams and fabrics.
Can The Walking Foot Work On Reverse Stitching?
No, it won’t work, the walking foot can not do reverse stitching, as it was designed to work on forward stitching, it can not be used to do reverse stitching.
The Best Walking Foot For Your Sewing Machine
The only way to get the best walking foot for you’re sewing machine is to shop online to see if you’re sewing machine brand has a walking foot for you to purchase separately, you also need to check if the walking foot for the brand is compatible with the model you have at home. You can shop online to find the best one for you’re sewing machine.
Walking Foot Sewing Machine, Beginners Guide Final Thoughts
When learning to sew to make your own garments, it will help you to have all the sewing supplies you need in you’re sewing room.
When you have the right presser foot to work on your projects, it will help you to save time and to get the professional results any sewer wants to get on all her/his projects.
The walking foot is a must have in you’re sewing machine accessories box, it will help you to get a perfect seam, to match strips and patterns as you work on a new project, and to work on the quilting on your new quilt.
Take your time to run a test with a piece of fabric, before you work on a project, it will help you to know how the walking foot works and as you work with it on your projects you will be amazed on how well it works and how it helps you to upgrade you’re sewing!
Happy sewing!
You can also read:
- Why You Should Learn To Sew – Sewing has many benefits, from making your own garments and new home decor to help you to get new skills.
Never heard of this type of sewing machine foot before which is really cool. I think that this is a good swerve from the kind of machine that I usually see here. The one that works with the foot is a really good one and I really like it. I don’t know if my mum will like this one but I should first show this to her so she can tell me if I should buy it for her.