HOW-TO attach a walking foot, so it works

I really did plan to share every step of my quilting process this month, but juggling too many balls means that something gets dropped every time. But today I can bring you some entertainment! Now, if you’ve been quilting, or even just sewing, for any period of time you use a walking foot on your machine. I specifically bought my Janome because it has a walking foot that attaches to it, but I didn’t buy the foot until a month ago, and I didn’t try attaching it until last week, when I received word a friend had had a baby, so I raced off to the machine to whip up a quilt.

You know, just by looking at this picture what the problem is (and I do too, now) But last week, I had no idea! It looked to me as if the needle was hitting the bobbin case, getting jammed, so a quick google search said “check the needle length.” Nope, no change. A quick whine on my facebook page and no one else had answers either (I mustn’t have described the problem properly, because the second I said “this is how I fixed it”, you have no idea how many people said “oh, that’s easy, I could have told you that!”)

So I left it for twenty four hours. Then went and had a look again, objectively (mentally counting how soon I could get the machine in for a service), and this time I saw the problem straight away. The needle-screw-thingy is hitting the floppy-lever-thingy. With that image in mind, I raced to youtube, found a tutorial that said “Cate, you’re an idiot, this is how you fix it”, and this morning I fixed it.

Oh, and there’s no posts anywhere from anyone else about doing stupid things like not putting the floppy-lever-thingy over the needle-screw-thingy. And I know I can’t possibly be the only person in the world who totally doesn’t have a clue.

And I must say, I have absolutely no idea why I waited so long to buy and/or use a walking foot - there’s no more puckery seams! My quilts now look as if someone cares about the sewing process! (I’ve even used it already, to finish off the quilt I tried to sew last weekend.)

Please tell ,e I’m not the only person in the world who couldn’t figure out walking foots. Please?!

Cate Brickell (48 Posts)

Cate is a closer-to-forty-than-thirty SAHM of 4+2 kids, ranging in age from 15 to 3. She doesn't do housework, wastes too much time on facebook and pinterest, and is overwhelmed by the awesome blogs in her google reader. She loves taking online scrapping classes, learning about the scout movement (as a Joey/Cub leader), and has a purple front door. 2013 is all about CHOOSING the right path.