Free Motion Foot and Toe Follow Up

I had a lovely conversation with a Bernina representative at the Fredericksburg Quilt and Sew Expo about the free motion ruler work I've been doing and what Bernina owners can do if they want to try it.

The latest news (Dec. 2014)on using a ruler foot with Berninas is here: Tutorial for using Janome Ruler Foot on Berninas.

EDITED! (in 2013) It seems it may be the #75 adapter that is needed, not the #77, but I am awaiting confirmation from a few sources. If you ordered wrongly because of my advice I am so sorry. I am a Janome girl and was trying my best to figure it out.

Edit Update: (also in 2013) KaKnitter reports: "Great News, the #75 adaptor works with some modifications. The Free motion convertible set has a slant on it and the adaptor does not slip in all the way unless you metal file down a little bit of the #75 adaptor. My dear husband fined tune it perfectly. I am thrilled. :)"  So dear readers, it seems that there is a way to make this foot work on the Berninas.  Note: I now recommend the method in the first link above before this method.

free motion quilting ruler work on a sewing machine

I showed her my ruler toe for the Janome Convertible Free Motion Foot Set and she agreed that it looked to be a well designed foot for what I was doing. She also offered to try out one of my rulers with other Bernina feet to see how they worked with the rulers. But I didn't exactly have a ruler to spare.

She suggested that Bernina owners might want to try the Embroidery Foot #26 as it has a little rim around the closed toe, however, she was concerned that since the foot had a small opening for the needle, that there might be opportunity for the foot to be pushed by the ruler enough to break the needle on the foot.

She thought that using the shank adapter for Bernina machines so that the Janome foot could be used would be the safest choice. They did not have an adapter foot at the show, so we couldn't see how well the Janome foot would work on it. There are two shank adapter feet for Bernina machines; the #75 and the #77.

After perusing the extensive list of feet and accessories at the Bernina site, I am thoroughly and completely overwhelmed! Wow! There's quite a selection. As far as I can tell, the #77 (short) shank adapter will allow you to attach other manufacturer's low shank feet. The #75 seems to be for certain Bernina accessories.

free motion quilting ruler work designs
Some of my first attepts at ruler work in 2011

So I am hoping we have a Bernina owner who will try the #77 #75 adapter in combination with the Janome Convertible Free Motion Quilting Foot Set for Low Shank Models and the ruler toe and give us an opinion.

Bernina owners can certainly use their regular free motion feet for ruler work like many others, especially when first starting with ruler work. But please, try raising the foot a bit to decrease the chance of the ruler slipping under the needle.

I also talked to a Husqvarna-Viking dealer and got thoroughly confused. According to her, it all depended which model you had whether other manufactures' feet would work on these machines. Sounds like they've got some unique features that sense fabric thickness among other things that could cause problems, but there are other options too for FMQ.

It looks as if these two manufacturers might be the hardest to fit with a good FMQ specifically for ruler work. See the post: Foot Questions for Free Motion Ruler Work for more general info on feet for this technique, especially on other brands. Also I mentioned in a previous post that Patsy Thompson had modified a Juki foot for free motion ruler work.

I am looking forward to hearing from other quilters about these feet and their experiences with them on their machines. If you've got some insight to these machines, I'd love to hear it!




23 comments:

  1. Hi Amy,
    I used to have a Husq/Viking that used a fabric thickness sensor. This function could be deactivated just as it can on my Brother Quattro. By the way the Janome convertible foot set works great on this machine as well as my more basic Husqvarna Platinum general sewing machine. Still waiting for my ruler toe attachment, but at a pinch, the closed toe will work as a ruler foot if I am careful, even better when something plastic siliconed to the bottom of it like a small rubber washer.
    Tris

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    1. I am so glad to hear that from you! I think the rep. was more interested in showing me the features of the various machines than she was in actually answering my question. Can’t blame her, that’s her job. I hope the toe comes soon, I know you really want to try it.

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  2. Hey, what's that funky ruler? I need one of those for little curves. My Fine Line ones don't have enough of an angle for those

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    1. The ruler you asked about is from Handiquilter (not sure) and consists of a 6” straight ruler with a half circle on one end and a 45 degree angle on the other. I’m not sure I’d recommend it anymore, since I love the Fine Line rulers, and 6” is a little short for crosshatching in many places. But that curve could be replicated with a small circle ruler/template or with the 4 in 1 tool from Quilter's Rule, or the Handiquilter Versatool ruler.

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  3. Thanks for your comments about the Berninas. I may have to give it a try - the tricky thing will be finding accessories I can borrow or try out without having to purchase them first!

    FYI, one of my quilts got an honorable mention at MQX this week. The sponsor was Gadget Girls so I'm hoping my prize will be to try out some of their rulers. Good timing I think :-)

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    1. Congrats on the ribbon! And thanks for commenting. I do hope you can try the feet out. Since I will be teaching this technique soon, I’d love to have a handful of these feet and adapters for my students too, but that will take some time (and cash!).

      I hope you get to try some rulers too! Let me know if you find some you really like.

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  4. I am a Bernina owner, Virtousa 150. I just ordered the Janome Convertable Free Motion Set, than the foot 77 and than the Free Motion Frame Quilting set to get the foot for rulers. I am new at this but it truly amazes me what you do! I found you through posts at Leah Day. I don't have the funds to purchase a fancy new machine but I am going to give this a try. I will let you know how it works out. I thank you for youa awesome posts.

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  5. Hi Amy, I have a Bernina 180and the Bernina 77 low shank adaptor. I placed an order for a Janome Sewing Machine Convertible Free Motion FRAME Quilting Foot Set 1600. I'll order the Fine Line rulers tomorrow. I'm ordering a 7.5 Half circle, 8" Straight and a 10" Continuous Curve. I hope I've ordered correctly and will let you know how it everything works on my Bernina.

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    1. Sounds good to me. I hope it works out and I am looking forward to hearing your report!

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  6. Great News, the #75 adaptor works with some modifications. The Free motion convertible set has a slant on it and the adaptor does not slip in all the way unless you metal file down a little bit of the #75 adaptor. My dear husband fined tune it perfectly. I am thrilled. :)

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    1. That is such great news! I am so happy to hear it and that you too have a handy hubby. Aren’t they great?

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  7. Amy,
    I returned all the Janome parts yesterday for credit because I couldn't get my Bernina and Janome parts to play nicely together. I had to use the needle position all the way to the right in order for the needle to work with Janome foot. Even in the far-right position, it did not completely clear the foot and the needle rubbed. Oh well, maybe in time you'll hear back from someone who has had better luck. I'm not doing much FMQ at the moment. I do want to use the rulers. At a later date I will try to come up with a solution that works for me.



    Yesterday I returned all the Janome parts/feet because I couldn't get it to work. I had to put the needle position all the way to the right and still the needle rubbed on foot. (It was worth a try!)

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  8. I am willing to try it, BUT I MUST have confirmation that the 1600 ruler toe WILL DEFINITELY fit on the low shank upper part. Without that confirmation from you, or someone at janome, this is an expensive undertaking for a bernina girl. The bernina adapter 75 is for a low shank accessory. There is no doubt that the upper portion of the janome feet set (ie the 202002004 at amazon link) will work with the bernina adapter. The WHOLE question is whether the ruler toe designed for the 1600 will fit on the low shank janome set. The upper portion is $50 and the lower portion is $16, so that is $66 to risk without knowing if it will fit. That answer can only come from someone with definite knowledge from JANOME!

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    1. Pigtailpat, I wish you weren't a no-reply blogger so I could make sure you got this response, but there is absolutely no question that the ruler toe (packaged for the 1600) will work on the janome convertible FMQ foot set. Be aware that the FMQ foot set is available in both high and low shank versions, but the toes are interchangeable, even those in the frame set for the 1600! It is only packaged for the 1600, because that is the machine billed for use in a frame and the other toe in the package is rotated for facing the end of the machine when used in a frame.

      Now, should you see this reply, be aware that I'm getting mixed reports from my readers as to the success of using the Bernina adapters with the Janome foot set.

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    2. Sorry - Amy - I'm new at the reply thing for blogger stuff - I will check back here for reply - if the upper portion of the janome set is the low shank one, there should be no difficultly with it matching the 75 adapter, since the 75 adapter is indeed there for low shank accessories. The only question in my mind was whether that toe (ruler) will fit the low shank upper portion of the Janome set - I can't get a definite word from Janome itself that it will or will not - they told me to go to a dealer and try it out myself (BTW thanks Janome - such a non-commitment from you will make me look elsewhere for a machine purchase if I ever get tired of bernina). The mixed reports you are getting, in my opinion, are from people who bought the high shank upper portion. The bernina machine, no matter which particular bernina machine it might be, can only work with low shank accessories - not anything high shank. I'm still on the fence whether I want to risk that much money and not know. I might make a trip to a Janome dealer and see for myself if the two pieces can fit together.......if I can see before my own eyes that the ruler toe can fit on the low shank upper portion.....I would buy on the spot and try it on my bernina machine. The key is getting the low shank upper part for bernina, not high shank.....

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  9. You can see where I suggested the low-shank adapter in the first version if the above post. But I was told it didn't work. If it works for you, I'd be very glad to hear it.

    The high shank and low shank FMQ sets use the same design for the 'toes', just a different shank height. The 1600P ruler toe works perfectly fine on my high shank FMQ set. I have no reason to see why it wouldn't work on the low shank version and have looked at it in the package with a Janome rep. at a show and we agreed that it looked like the same attachment design. But I do have the low shank version on order with my dealer to verify for you that it does fit and to have it on hand for classes.

    I have recommended this foot combo to many, many people via the blog and no one has told me they have had any problems with the low shank version using the ruler toe. So far the only issue is for the Bernina adapter.

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    1. I knew I had a reply from somebody using the low shank foot set and the ruler foot on a different brand of machine, and found it on the blog's Facebook page. Tris says it works like a charm.

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    2. I have a Janome MC6500, which is low shank. I ordered the low shank foot set and it works perfect on my machine. The rulers are so pricey! I wish a company would start marketing some affordable rulers. But I'm thankful for the ruler foot concept for domestic machines. It's fun and very gratifying to be able to quilt my quilts myself! But they left out one little thing - skill. But, practice makes perfect, so I work with them every day and it is getting easier.

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  10. Amy thanks. If another user definitely has used the low shank upper portion and the ruler toe together (albeit on a different machine other than bernina), that gives me important information to weigh whether I want to take the risk of trying it on my bernina. I do not see why there should be a problem, as the 75 adapter is supposed to work with a low shank accessory. I will check out the facebook page for this blog.........

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  11. Amy - I saw Tris' post on facebook and thanked her for it. This definitely gives me courage to possibly try. Worst case scenario is if it doesn't work, I would have to use the attachment on a native low-shank machine like my singer 15-91. I'm considering a trip to a janome dealer with the bernina in tow (yes I will feel a little strange) to test out the combination...........I probably will pay alot more money at a dealer, but it would give me a chance to test the arrangement before a purchase..I will see...

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  12. I FMQ on my Pfaff 7570. I love everything about this machine, except that the FMQ foot does bob up and down a little. It has a special setting on the pressor foot for embroadery and free motion. I haven't tries Leah Day's modifications yet. I'm concerned that moving the quilt without the foot right against the fabric will break the needle. Any comment for me.

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    1. I'm not horribly familiar with Pfaffs, but certainly a non-hopping foot doesn't cause any more broken needles than the hopping foot. Certainly, if you are stitching very, very slowly, there's a possibility of putting more pressure on the needle while moving the quilt, but that can happen with the hopping foot also. With a non-hopping foot, you still need to adjust the height so it's not too high above the fabric.

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  13. Next month I am going on a two day training course, for my new Bernina 880. I will ask about ruler work and ruler toes while there. Hopefully, there will be some progress by now and if I gain any knowledge, I'll let you know. I'm very keen to try ruler work. I loved your video on using rulers for cross hatching around applique, thank you. I haven't owned a Bernina preiously and my 880 is an incredible machine. I need to up my skills to match!

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