What's the silliest thing you have done while quilting?

[Margo C.]

Hurray, hurray, hurray!

I know that with some of the older machine you could actually take the foot off and FMQ that way, but mine won't let me do it. Worth a try?

The purpose of using a darning foot (which does not hold the fabric against the feed dogs) is to prevent the fabric from riding up with the needle to prepare for the next stitch. Without the foot, you would have to keep your fingers closer to the needle to prevent it from doing that. I'm too much of a klutz to have my fingers that close to the needle!! :roll:

[E.M. T.]

Heather.. on most machines ...you can loosen the presser foot pressure to zero then put the
foot down in the regular way. The thread then is in the tension disks and should sew ok.
Remember to put the feed dogs down, too. Worth a try on a sample scrap....I've done
the trick with no foot at all and it worked...just watch out for the fingers ! ops:

[Lois B.]

Hurray, hurray, hurray!

I know that with some of the older machine you could actually take the foot off and FMQ that way, but mine won't let me do it. Worth a try?

I thought the same thing, but if you do that be very, very careful of the fingers. Somehow that pressor foot reminds you that there is a very powerful needle pumping up and down at a very rapid speed that has the power to penetrate fingers. (As Ricky would say) Just sayin'.

[wendy w.]

But if you use a hoop, normal foot, feed dogs down and take the pressed foot to lowest pressure then fmq would that work?

[wendy w.]

But if you use a hoop, normal foot, feed dogs down and take the pressed foot to lowest pressure then fmq would that work?

If you have your work in a hoop, then it is safer to remove the presser foot, because you are holding the hoop to move the fabric around - that is how I was taught free-motion embroidery. But you still need to remember to lower the presser foot to engage the tension plates.
If you have a normal foot, feed dogs down (or zero) and take the presser foot to lowest pressure, you can fmq without the hoop if you want to - it is all a case of experimenting with different combinations to see what works....

[E.M. T.]