26 October, 2010

The Right Foot

Yesterday morning I was ready to attach the binding to this quilt, the blue version of the same baby quilt I posted in pink not long ago. When attaching the binding to that one, using a walking foot, I thought I would pull my hair out from frustration; nothing went well! My machine was skipping stitches constantly. I did all the troubleshooting I knew how, to no avail. Finally, I gave up, took the walking foot off and walked away. Later the same day I put the walking foot on the sewing machine I typically use for embroidery and stitched it on, trouble free. Since then I have used the first machine for piecing and have encountered no stitching problems whatsoever. Since the embroidery module was attached to machine #2 I decided to reenact the original scenario again. I threaded machine #1 and picked up the walking foot... that's when I realized what I had done previously. Instantly I knew that I had used the walking foot for machine #2 on machine #1! They are NOT interchangeable!! They sit side by side in the same drawer and the mistake was glaring... in a retro-active way! Do you remember the song: "I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt"? My version could be: "I'm Too Stupid For My Feet"! Do you have any idea how quickly one can attach binding to a quilt when one doesn't constantly need to stop, change needles, pull one's own hair out, and re-do each and every stitch? Let's put it this way: quickly enough to take a picture and blog about it! The correct foot, on the machine it was designed for, makes a WORLD of difference: ask me how I know! Groan.
Life is Good!

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16 comments:

*karendianne. said...

Ack!!!

Kathleen said...

How frustrating... but a good ending.
"I'm too stupid for my feet" -funny.

Karen said...

So glad it was a simple mistake and that now your machine is working perfectly!

Mary Lou Casada said...

LOL - What a day!! Do you ever wonder how we are able to walk around in the "real world" after such a thing!?! Good reason to believe in guardian angels! :-D Glad you figured it out. I have to put a huge post-it note on my machine if I change to the straight stitch plate. I'll zig or zag everytime and break needle after needle! Insanity! LOL So, Mrs. G -- you are not alone! (even scarier!!:-D)
Blessings,
Mary Lou

Barb said...

Such frustrations but so glad you got it figured out and trouble free!

scraphappy said...

You are not the only one to mess up what should be so simple and straight forward. I once changed feet in the middle of a quilt and finished the whole thing with a 3/8 inch seam allowance instead of 1/4. I knew it looked wrong, but couldn't quite put my finger on the problem.

Nane said...

I would be mad at my machine, then have to appologize ;)

Zlaty said...

I can see that can happen! I am glad you resolved it and I can learn from your experience!

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

That would be frustrating. I'm glad you figured it out.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Thankfully both of my machines use interchangeable feet ... otherwise, I'd be right there with you!

(However, the acrylic table inserts are NOT interchangeable, as I found out when I traveled to NC last month.)

Barb said...

Have you tried to sew on the binding on your quilts before you take it off your quilting machine? I have had pretty good luck with that. As far as the feet go, I have different types of machines with different types of feet...

Barb said...

Yep, I hear you, and I groan with you! I am guessing the memory of it will stick with you forever... my best lessons are always with my own mistakes! Have a great week, I hope it gets better for you! Thank you for the update on Mary Ann, my prayers continue!

Karen Newman Fridy said...

oh my...you know I'm going to be making up verses for that song now... :)

quiltmom anna said...

Hi Debbie,
It sounds like a frustrating experience but at least you figured out what happened.
Speaking of feet frustration - how is your daughter's/ daughter in law's foot- I am sorry I can only remember that it was Mason's mom who broke her foot- I hope she is recovering nicely.
Regards,
Anna

AnnieO said...

Operator error is the most frustrating part about life! Glad you figured out a solution and found your way to the root of the problem.

Gari in AL said...

Just because of the same problem I keep all the feet for each machine in different places. I felt your pain.