The other day I was working on something and noticed my favorite presser feet (That's a weird thing to say, isn't it? Presser feet?) sitting to the side of my sewing machine. Naturally, the first thing that pops into my head is, "I should blog about that!". So I've decided to share my presser foot collection with you today.
Let's start with my tried and true favorites. I use these 3 almost exclusively, even though I have a lovely collection of the fancy ones, I tend to stick with these guys most of the time.
The Standard Presser Foot. This came with my machine and I love that it's clear on the end. I use those little lines & grooves all the time. That's how I stitch those even lines around bibs & such. My PFAFF comes with a feature they like to call IDT, it's basically an integrated walking foot and it's awesome, just sayin'.
The 1/4" Quilt and Patchwork Foot. Okay, so this foot is great for making quilts because it's exactly 1/4" wide on either side, and also has handy 1/4" marks at the front & back. That's a really great feature when you're coming to the end of a seam and you want to stop 1/4" away from the edge. Very handy indeed, and not just for quilting.
The Zipper Foot. Obviously.
Click the image to see it larger.
Now for the less used and much more specialized presser feet. I keep the majority of these in a box with miscellaneous hardware & spare rotary blades. When I bought my latest PFAFF, I diligently took every class I could in order to get the most out of my machine. Unfortunately, if you don't use that knowledge regularly, it kind of fades away. I had to actually look up some of these on the
PFAFF website {blushing}.
The Roll Hemmer actually came with my machine and it works really well if you can manage to keep the fabric inside the foot. It tends to pull out and be a little tricky. When it works, it works well. I used it recently to finish the edge of the sash on this
dress. An excellent tool to have if you've ever hemmed organza, yuck.
The Blindhem foot would have been a complete mystery to me if I hadn't taken a class to learn how to use my machine. It's another tricky one to use, but brilliant once you get it. This foot also came with the machine.
The Stitch-In-Ditch is another quilting foot. It's great for stitching right in a seam line.
The Beading Foot is pretty cool, and difficult to photograph. It's got a great big groove on the bottom so you can sew down strings of pearls & such. You just set the machine to zig-zag and run the beads through the groove.
The Braiding Foot is used to stitch down narrow things like cord or yarn. You just feed the trim through that little loop in the front and the foot guides it right under the needle.
The Gathering Foot does exactly that. You just run one fabric through the slit in the foot, and the other fabric stays underneath. Sew with a zig-zag and it gathers your fabric for you. Just adjust the size of the stitch to adjust the amount of gather. I love this foot when I can remember to use it.
The Decorative Trim Foot is really similar to the Braiding Foot, but it's for flat trims like ribbon. It's surprising how much motion you can get just by having a foot to guide your trim. You can stitch in circles with perfectly stitched trim if you remember to use a foot like this.
Last but not least,
the Pintuck Foot (sorry, I know it's hard to see in the picture). When I took the presser foot class I was blown away by this one. I've never used it, of course, but it's fantastic! You have to use a twin needle with this foot, which opens up a whole other world of possibilities. Just stitch your first pintuck, then run it through a groove on the bottom of the foot to sew your next one. It makes nice, evenly spaced tucks.
Now you know some of the tricks of the trade, eh? I think the trick is to know how to use all of the features of your machine, and the tools available with it. This post should be a good reminder to me to use some of these fun feet next time I'm making a new handbag or zipper pouch. It also reminds me that I want a
non-stick foot, for vinyl & other hard to feed fabrics! Better run to the sewing shop....
Today is our friend Amanda's birthday, so I'm headed for the city with Nick at lunch time. I get to run around SF all afternoon with Amanda while Nick works, hehe. I need to go here for thank you card bits (and a super secret shop idea I'm working on), and maybe we'll swing by the cool vintage fabric shop Amanda heard about on Apartment Therapy. I hope she wants to go check out the Japanese bookstore too. Last time I got this. I'm aching for some new inspiration. I'm excited to have a day out. Can you tell?
I managed to get something made yesterday. I'm going to be writing up a pattern for my shopper tote, so I made this one to illustrate the steps. I actually made a mistake sewing the pocket in so I guess I'm going to have to keep it for myself. Oh well.
Look where the handles meet the pocket...whoops!
