¼” foot survey.

[jacksong]

I have been studying and practicing Sharon Schamber’s techniques for feathers, with her “pearls” in the spine. I can do the feathers real well, but I have trouble controlling the echoing around the feathers. The APQS foot is so large that it is hard to control a nice ¼” echo around any feather, flower, etc. I like the delicate look of echoing close to the main motif. The visibility just isn’t there.

I understand Gammill has just introduced a ¼” foot. I sure would like one of those. What do you say APQS… any chance we might get one? I understand the foot is part of the machine, but being a welder’s wife for 40 years, surely there is some way to adapt or replace what is there now so we can change out feet, like on a sewing machine. We could have the best of both worlds. Let's make this wonderful machine the "greatest ever."

Is there anyone else out there that has comments about this topic? I look forward to hearing from you on this chat.

[Lib]

Gayle, right on! I never thought of the idea of having a 1/4" foot for my Millennium. That is the best idea yet and it would make it sooo much easier when echoing.

OK APQS. Please put on your thinking caps.

Lib

[quiltmonkey]

I believe that the outer edge of the hopping foot on the Millennium is exactly 1/4" from the needle.

I have seen where people have notched out the front section of their hopping foot so they had better view of the needle and immediate area in front of the needle, but I learned (from Dawn Cavanaugh) that notching out the foot does decrease the integrity (strength) of the foot. But, it is possible to notch it out if you want to do that. Your choice. If you do notch out the front of your foot you are removing the 1/4" edge in the front so any ruler work at the front of the foot would be compromised because you would not have the outer edge of the hopping foot to use as a 1/4" guide if you notched it out.

[Bonnie]

Not to sound total stupid here, since I don't have a Millie, but one of the older APQS machines. But I thought the foot on the Millie was a 1/4 foot....that is the space from the needle to the edge of you foot is 1/4. Isn't that true?

[Guest mark]

Bonnie you are right. The foot is a 1/2" foot and the needle is on a 1/4" center. Most quilters use the edge of the foot to go around the design and you then are doing a 1/4" echo. It makes it pretty hard to start changing out the foot when you have so many that want it built up to use rulers and such.

Take care,

[Bonnie]

Got Ya...I understand the problem. Thanks.

[jacksong]

OK, I guess I explained the foot incorrectly. I want a foot that is small like that used in free motion on my DSM(s). On that isn't so tall vertically and you wouldn't use templates with. Go to www.sharonschambernetwork.com. Choose Free videos in the upper left and go to her videos. Scroll down to "Longarm class: Couture Delicate Feathers Speed Demo." This will show you want I mean by smaller foot.

Mark, is there a way to replace the existing foot mechanism with one that has enterchangable feet?

[catsigler]

Sharon's husband designed a small (tiny) foot for the Juki and I bought one of those when I took a class from her years ago. I would like the option to use a big or small foot on my millie and I don't see why apqs couldn't accommodate our need by offering a small foot. Sharon does intricate work with her Prodigy longarm machine that just isn't possible to do on our machines (unless you can quilt blind). I don't know if her Prodigy came with that small foot or if her husband made it for her. Next person to see her could ask. Or maybe just email her and ask.

[quiltmonkey]

I'm no engineer, but perhaps the foot on the longarm needs to be built so it is stout and can withstand the heavy duty motor, high speed up and down motion that commercial heavy duty quilting machines require to hold up over time? Unlike a DSM, these machines are super powerful so maybe they need a strong foot too? (kinda like the huge tires on the big semi tractor trailer trucks?)

[jeri]

We have 1/4 inch feet on our APQS machines. Personally I think the visability beats the other machines by a mile. I can see where every stich goes and where it's going to go. If you are having visibility problems is your machine set at the wrong height for you? I keep a pair of clogs handy so that I can be a bit taller when I'm working at the far side of the quilting area.

For applique work try Linda Taylor's Applique Ruler--I tend not to use the hopping foot hole unless I'm doing small detailed applique but use one of the curves on the outside edge and it makes for nearly perfect control.

Some of the APQS hopping feet did have a notch, it makes it really hard to do ruler work as the foot tends to slip under the rulers and get caught ___NOT FUN. One of my friends has this foot on her Millie.

The foot previous to the newer hopping foot was a flat disc and it did have more visability but you had to use a plastic adapter that snapped on to use reulers-now this did cause visibility problems.

Sharon sells an adapter foot for the Prodigy. I talked to her about it at MQS. jeri

[catsigler]

Here is a picture of the foot I bought from Sharon for my Juki. It's very sturdy, but the small foot gives better visibility for quilting close, intricate designs.

Eww, that is a nasty thing. My poor old eyes didn't see that dust on the machine, which hasn't been out of the closet for at least 2 years.

[jacksong]

I have the hydraulic lift to adjust my machine at any height. I sit to do intricate work. Got special glasses just for the distance to see. I've been doing the PPP. I've personally been in conversations with Sharon about her foot. As stated before, I would like the ability to have the powerhouse foot for pantos and large meandering, but my first love is to sit and do intricate detailed quilting.

[laststitchstudio]

What about clear plastic..................that way you can see all the way around the foot. I have one on my Bernina for free motion. Some plastics are pretty strong. I think I would just keep that one on my machine all the time. The shaft would be metal, but the foot would be a clear plastic

What do you think? I'm no engineer, but maybe it could work.

[Mary Beth]

From what I hear Sharon's machine has been greatly modified to accomodate her style of quilting. It is not a regular, run of the mill, Prodigy, unless jealous people are talking...then who knows.

[dixieqwv]

I know Nolting will make an open toe foot upon request for about $50 or so .... maybe APQS would too. That would give great vision for your echo.

[jacksong]

Regarding Sharon's modified machine...I guess the operative word here is "modified".

Thank you all for your responses. I'm heading to the Beach today and won't view the Chat room until Sunday. Keep the discussions going.

Thanks.

[lyonden]

I was the first to have to replace my foot with the new foot that is used today. It is not fun to change them out. These feet go way up into the machine and you have to be really careful when changing them out. (take my word for it) It would be a real pain in the patoot. The only way I would consider changing one out again would be for APQS to redesign the foot and make it easily replaceable with a screw or some such thing and much shorter so as not to mess anything up. But, the way it is now, I would not change one out again.

[Grammie]

Personally I too wish our foot could be small for intricate Freehand work only. No rulers. Even an opening for precision on very detailed quilting.

Just a thought. I like my foot as it is for most of what I do but sometimes I wish I had a better view when doing very intricate work.

Just a thought

[DawnCavanaugh]

Sometimes my two cents is only worth a penny, and this might be one of those times. I want to share some food for thought about the desire for an interchangeable or 1/4"-wide foot for the average, every-day longarm quilter, but first you have to take the following quiz:

[*] If you have ever used a ruler with your longarm machine, raise your hand.

[*] If you have ever had the ruler "accidentally" slip on top of the foot and have the needle bar hit it, raise your other hand.

[*] If you have ever used both a ruler AND tiny stippling on a quilt, raise your right foot.

[*] If you have ever used a ruler along the FRONT of the hopping foot, raise your other foot.

Where does that leave you? The foot that you have now allows you to do all those things (but also helps reduce the incidents of "accidents" and their impact). It would surely be nice to have an interchangeable 1/4" foot, clear foot, open-toe foot, etc. for the machines. We want these machines to do everything possible for us, right? (Now if only it would do the dishes, it would be perfect) But to get all that we want, we\'d have to also make some trade-offs.

Let me walk you through some of the "good" and "bad" things about different types of feet that might seem like a good idea. Having had my APQS machine for 14 years now, I have gone through each new generation of "foot" that has been developed for the machine, so I feel confident that I can shed some light on the discussion.

The first hopping foot (excluding the larger saucer foot for the Ultimate II machine, which isn\'t a hopping foot) was very thin and shallow. Visibility was good, but I literally wore the foot into a "V" instead of its standard round shape from using rulers. I had to press so hard to keep the ruler from jumping onto the top of the foot and under the needle, that I wore the metal right off the foot! It then became very difficult to do any other diagonal line that wasn\'t on the same "angle" as my worn down foot. So the trade-off for increased visibility was difficulty in controlling rulers.

Next came the taller 1/2" wide foot (with the needle set at the center, so that the edge of the foot represented 1/4"). This second generation foot had a "cut out" portion on the front of the foot for increased visibility. This made it easier to see inside the foot, but I couldn\'t use the front of the foot at all for ruler positioning. It made some angles very difficult to achieve. (Gammill still has a notched out area on their foot--users must only use the back of the foot for ruler work, which results in some interesting physical contortions for certain angles and directions).

Finally the best of both worlds came out--the current tall foot that has some of the inside front edge removed for greater visibility, but still allows for a ruler to be used anywhere along the edge of the foot.

Now think back to your quiz answers, and the style of quilting YOU usually do. If you\'ve ever had a ruler slip up on top of the foot and had the needle bar hit it, then you know how your heart can stop for just an instant when you hear that loud thwack and you yank the ruler out again, hoping you didn\'t mess up the timing. Now imagine you\'ve got a thin, narrow, detachable foot on the machine, and you want to use a ruler. Its shaft would have to withstand quite a bit of torque from any direction to hold up to that varying pressure. Otherwise, the foot itself could bend or even break as it is used on different sides. If it went "out of round" it would not function properly and "hop" over the fabric.

Think back to when you worked on a quilt that you used both a ruler and did teeny, tiny stippling. Would you have been willing to add more time to that project (and charge more) by either: (a) switching the foot back and forth each time you advanced the quilt to another segment, or ( completing only one aspect of the quilt at a time such as just ruler work, then stipple work?

I greatly admire Sharon\'s artistry and skill. She has accomplished some astounding feats with the aid of her modified longarm. Many of us only dream of creating masterpieces like she does. But while we all might aspire to quilt like Sharon, how many of us are willing to put in the 100\'s of hours per quilt, or charge $6,000 for the finished project? Even for our own project? Sharon\'s in business, too--just a different kind. I don\'t think she has much call to switch out her modified detail foot and grab a ruler to do lots of stitching in the ditch around some Irish chain blocks. Detail is her bread and butter. But let\'s face it, for the rest of us, detail bogs down our production time, and we don\'t even charge enough for it when we DO use it.

I guess this is a very long-winded way of saying that we may want to really think through all the pros and cons before we start clammoring for changes to something that might compromise other aspects of our quilting.

I DO know that extremely detailed quilting can be accomplished on "non-modified" longarm machines; I\'ve seen many examples of it as a longarm show judge. Take heart and give yourself time to develop your own artistry and skill, just as Sharon Schamber has.

If you\'re after a different foot strictly for the "visibility" factor, try a few of these simple "modifications" to your own machine that won\'t involve re-tooling the foot:

[*] Advance the quilt only as far as you can comfortably see from the front of the machine. Sit to quilt in details. Try the Microdrive handles for greater control. If you don\'t own the Microdrive handles, try pushing your adjustable handles all the way down to the quilt to simulate them.

[*] Paint the entire "inside" of your foot white. Use a small brush and enamel paint (or for the MacGyvers out there, White-out works, too:)) This reflects the light and makes the stitches much easier to see. An added bonus is that you can see to also thread the needle!

[*] Use good studio lighting; try full spectrum bulbs.

[*] Try magnifying glasses such as MagEyes (these can be worn in addition to regular eyeglasses) or non-prescription magnifying eyeglasses from the drugstore. You can even find mountable magnifying glasses that have jointed arms for increased positioning, and can stick them right on the front of the machine. (They\'ll vibrate too much at high speeds but work fairly well for detail quilting.)

[*] Stitch detail quilting in Manual Mode, using a slower motor speed. Look ahead to where you WANT to be with your stitches, not where you ARE. The toughest part of learning how to do detail quilting is to trust that the machine will follow your eyes. If they are only focused inside that foot, you\'ll quickly quilt yourself into corners.

Okay, this got so long it isn\'t worth that penny anymore. Never get on the chat after three Diet Cokes; the caffiene does the same thing to one\'s fingers that it does to the mouth--it maketh them run off!

[Myrna Ficken]

Excellent points Dawn, my hand was in the air for all four questions.

LOL. I need to start drinking diet coke! It would have take me a week to type your post.

Myrna

[jeri]

Totally agree with Dawn. My Millie came with the little flat foot. Not nice to use with a ruler, not nice for having to re-time the machine the first time Easter Weekend when tech supposrt closed down on Thursday afternoon and I had a deadline quilt that didn\'t get delivered on time. the old APQS forum wasn\'t much help back then. Bought the adapter and couldn\'t see much of where my needle was going so I was always fighting to take it off or put it on. My friend has the open toed foot as she bought her machine just a few months after I bought mine. It\'s awful for using a ruler on the front side of the foot. It\'s very similar to the Gammil foot but I think has more visability than Gammil\'s.

I changed my foot long ago. I try out the other machines at MQS every year. I still think it has the best visibility and is the best handling machine. I don\'t get the visibility problem as I can see every stitch my machine is taking when I\'m going low and slow.

[smorris]

Whoever keeps feeding Dawn the Diet Coke - keep giving her more - every post is so informative - thanks Dawn

[annlittle1]

Dawn,

When you come up with that machine that does the dishes (isn\'t that a dishwasher?) can you add that it needs to clean the house and do laundry, too. That way I wouldn\'t have to feel guilty that I\'m quilting and my house needs to be cleaned.

[jacksong]

Hi everyone...back from the beach.

I\'m so happy you continued chattin about the foot (survey). You all have great points to make. However, I haven\'t really used rulers so far and I don\'t quilt for anyone but me and my sister, I have special prescription glasses, a great stool, hydraulic lift, microdrive, ...yes all the bells and whistles mentioned here.

Thanks to Dawn for her info. You always have great answers and I look forward to reading and printing each and every one of them for future reference. And just a note…I do love my Millennium.

It looks like there will be no smaller foot forthcoming so I will continue to PPP with what we now have. My mother’s words come to mind…”you can’t have everything” but “wishing doesn’t cost anything.”

....hugs to all.