Feed Dog Troubles
Hi I am new here and a new quilter to boot. I have been working on a quilt for a long time now and it was coming time to do the quilting and was starting be afraid of the quilt. It seems my old machine was not going to see this project out. The other day my new Singer Quantum Stylist 9066 arrived. I read all the instructions and tried some plain stitching and it all worked great. Last night I put a sandwich together and tried to do some quilting. I lowered the feed dogs as instructed, but when I put my sandwich through the machine I had to pull it through. I thought quilting should be easier that. Upon closer inspection it seem that the feed dogs don't seem to be moving very much. Is there a solution to this problem or a way to get around it. Optimally, I really would like them to lower. If anyone has any suggestions I would truly be greatful. Thanks
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
I have an singer machine and its feeddogs do not lower.
I have a plastic plate that cover them when I do free motion quilting
What say your manual for the machine you have ? Lower or cover the feeddogs ?sigpic
God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The stash to make a quilt to help me cope,
A quilt to give to comfort those I love in times of hurt, fear and uncertainty.
And the courage to keep on sewing when life itself seems held together by a single thread of hope. -
Re: Feed Dog Troubles
I don't do FMQ. But I believe that when you lower (or cover) the feed dogs, you are disengaging them. This means that you are turning them off. Yes, they will not move and you will have to move the fabric by hand in a free motion, hence the name Free Motion Quilting. Any input from FMQ experts would be great!!!.Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
When you lower the fed dogs, you are disengaging them. Your hands and the speed of the machine control your quilting stitches. There are several good video tutorials on YouTube to get you started.Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Which type of quilting are you trying to do? Free Motion Quilting the feed dogs are lowered so that your hands and the machine control where the stitches go.
If you are trying to do quilting like stitch in the ditch, you want the feed dogs to be engaged (up) and not lowered as they feed the quilt through the machine with you helping to guide the fabric in.Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
When your feed dogs are down, they don't move at all....that is why it's called free motion quilting. I also have a Singer, the Quartet, and I just set the stitch length to zero and don't lower my feed dogs and that works fine.pat.
No rain....no rainbows!
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If you can't be nice.....BE QUIET!Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Did you change you foot to a darning or fmq foot? Or if you just want to do straight lines than leave your feed dogs up and put your walking foot on.Karen
Life is short - Live everyday to the fullestComment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Welcome to the forum!
If you want to free motion quilt, you lower the feed dogs which stops the movement. Then you put the darning foot on and manually move your quilt around in designs. Sort of hard to do but apparently with a lot of practice, it gets easier (or so I have been told because it is still pretty hard for me).
If you want the machine to move your fabric along and you quilt in straight lines, then leave the feed dogs up (and engaged so they move), and put the walking foot on (it comes with the machine). The machine will gently grab and move your fabric sandwich. I have found the walking foot that comes with this machine doesn't always work correctly so message me if you have trouble and I will tell you how I sort of fixed it. You don't have to use the walking foot, you can use the regular foot instead but sometimes you might get little puckers or little tucks in the fabric if you don't.
Here is a very useful video for machine quilting on your machine. The lady has a very good series that will help you get to know your machine better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkQSVOHcbT4
If you are not sure how to type what you are trying to do, take a picture and sort of explain and maybe we can help more.
Good luck.Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
I have that same machine. I see others have a said pretty much the same thing, but I'll give my 2 cents on it!
If you are doing free motion quilting on the top (with batting and back sandwich)..then lower the feeddogs using the switch that is on the front of the machine facing you. If yours have the table extension, you have to pull the table to the left and then you can get to the switch. Dropping the feed dogs allows for no contact between the fabric and the needle plate so you can move hte fabric around...freely. If the dogs were up, this would cause the free motion to be hindered.
Also, use the darning foot as that doesn't go all the way down to where the feeddogs would be. That way you can freely move the fabric around but the darning foot gives you a little bit of direction. You can do FMQ without ANY foot on...but the fabric is kind of puffy due to the thickness and it would be hard to keep it straight and same thickness. But the darning foot helps keep the fabric in place and gives you a bit of focal point to work with.
If you are doing SITD or any straight stitch...feed dogs should up and you use either an all purpose foot or a walking foot. The walking foot that came wiyh my 9960 is so loud, I can't stand using it! So I use the all purpose foot. I haven't had any problems with the all purpose foot.Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Another note, when you have to pause in your stitching, make sure you have hit your needle down button if you have one, or you could get a big mess. Good luck!pat.
No rain....no rainbows!
sigpic
If you can't be nice.....BE QUIET!Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Vicky,
Thanks for the help and the video. I did watch it and learned some more, however when she drops the feet on that machine you can see them move. Unlike mine. I am going to try some other things that were suggested.
Glad I found this site.
Thanks again,
DebComment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Thanks to everyone who put in some advice. This has been very helpful. I will try these solutions and see what will work. Will post how it goes.
Thanks.Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Hi Deb,
Do you mean that your feet don't move down or that they continue to move? I will have to look at mine more closely and see what happens . . .maybe I can video tape it so you can compare. I need to wait until my sewing room has better light and I am more awake LOL
We will figure this out.
I really like the video the lady did on You Tube. It helped me get more comfortable with my machine (it sat in the box for a couple days after Christmas-I think I thought it would pop out of the box and start sewing on it's on).Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
Hi Vicky,
The feet just don't move down. But I did try the darning foot last night and it worked like a charm. It will definitely take practice to get the hang of this FMQ thing. Of course I didn't start will anything small I have a queen size quilt on the table.
I do like the machine. I have only had it for a few days. Last Thursday to be exact. It has been fun learning on it. And it does pretty much sew on its own. I went through and tried all the different stitches and embroidery stuff.Comment
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Re: Feed Dog Troubles
I took a video of the feed dogs. I noticed that the feed dogs don't look like they re-engage when I turn them back on. But, once you start sewing, there is a little click and the feed dogs come back to the up. Take a look and see if your feed dogs do the same as mine. I took my foot off so you could see the feed dogs better.
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