![]() Nope, this won’t hurt your machine or your quilt, but you may feel more fatigue when free motion quilting for long periods of time. You can ignore the pull of your feed dogs and let this tug help you gain muscles in your arms, wrists and fingers to control your quilt. This is allowing your sewing machine to do what it’s designed to do – feed fabric forward. Don’t change anything – Ignore the pull and don’t change any settings or functions on your machine. ![]() There are three things you can do if you feel the feed dogs pull like this: You may feel the feed dogs pull against you – this feels like a subtle tug on the quilt forward in the direction the feed dogs normally move. A darning foot, or a new option is a ruler quilting foot, will give you extra space between the quilt and the foot base which allows your quilt to move in all directions. This is a presser foot designed NOT to press your fabric hard against your needle plate. The only thing you need for free motion quilting on a home sewing machine is a darning foot. Three Ways to Set Up Your Machine for Free Motion Quilting ![]() So I stopped dropping them completely and my quilting got better. My thread didn’t feed as well and broke more often when the feed dogs were down. Hmm…Īfter a bit of trial and error, I discovered dropping my feed dogs came with an annoying side effect – it messed with the tension of my machine. Oops! Then after dropping my feed dogs, I noticed something interesting – my stitches looked worse. I’d attach my darning foot and begin free motion quilting and after an hour or two of happy quilting, I’d remember that step. This is why I don’t drop my feed dogs when free motion quilting – I forgot. Will the Quilt Police suddenly ring your front doorbell, demanding you to stop free motion quilting immediately? Will the sky blacken with clouds of quilting doom? Will your quilt sit up and yell at you, “ NO! Drop those feed dogs first!“ For free motion quilting the first rule always seems to be to drop those little teeth down inside your sewing machine.īut what happens if you forget? What if you get so excited to quilt your next quilt, you simply forget to drop the feed dogs before getting started? That is what I’d been taught in my first machine quilting class, and that is what I read in countless books on the subject. When I started free motion quilting on my home sewing machine, I dropped my feed dogs loyally. Seuss, but you get my point! Why I Don’t Drop Feed Dogs When Free Motion Quilting I don’t drop them with a fox….Įr… I ran off on a tangent there with Dr. ![]() I don’t drop them anywhere! I don’t drop them in a box. I don’t drop feed dogs when I’m free motion quilting or walking foot quilting. I don’t drop my feed dogs for free motion quilting. So here’s a lesson I teach in every workshop and class, every book and pattern: Test and Decide What Works Better for You – Feed Dogs Up or Down?.Why dropping your feed dogs may make your stitches look worse.What to do if you feel the feed dogs tugging when free motion quilting.You have permission to free motion quilt with feed dogs up.Where did the “drop your feed dogs” rule come from?.Three ways to set up your machine for free motion quilting.Why I don’t drop my feed dogs for free motion quilting.There are lots of options for setting up your sewing machine for this quilting technique. This is a great quilting question and just in case you’re in a hurry – no – you do not HAVE to drop your feed dogs when free motion quilting. If I could avoid that I think I would be in heaven.” I purchased a babylock and love it, but I followed the instructions and drop the feed dogs when free motion quilting and it’s really annoying that the tension is so persnickety. “I am interested in learning more about the “not dropping the feed dogs” comment. I received a great question about whether to drop feed dogs when free motion quilting from a quilter recently:
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