Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Ruler foot for Berninas: A Tutorial

I shared my technique of combining the ruler toe from the Janome Convertible Free Motion Frame Quilting

Foot Set with the Janome Convertible Free Motion Quilting Foot Set more than two years ago in this post on

Quilting Tools. It was quickly followed up by my most popular post ever, Quilting with Rulers on a Domestic

Sewing Machine. It's been such a great technique for achieving smooth lines and curves when free motion

quilting. Since it involves Janome feet, Bernina owners (and other who can't use the Janome feet) have been so

eager to find a way to use this foot or an equivalent foot.

Through my work with Top Anchor Quilting Tools, Betty Bland put me into contact with Reneah Rafferty, a

Bernina Educator who has made the following tutorial to use the Janome foot on Berninas! Yay!

I know we've had a few creative souls who have tried to make it work before, and I admit wishing I had tried

harder to figure it out before now, but I am a Janome girl, so I would not have figured out that the compatibility

issue could be fixed with the computer settings.

She did this tute with her Bernina 880 and promises to check other machine going forward from here. Many

thanks to Reneah and Bernina for this information.

(If you have a different brand of machine that still doesn't have a suitable foot for ruler work, don't despair. I

have some information in the works for you too!)

So here's Reneah:

The following are the steps I needed to do to set my Bernina 880 for quilting ruler work.

Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

Accessories You will need

The following feet and accessories are needed.

Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

Bernina 77 foot Step 1: Purchase the Bernina 77 foot which allows you to add another company’s shank and

use that companies specialty feet.

Step 2: For the Bernina 880, I will be using the below, Janome Convertible Free Motion Quilt

Foot Set for HIGH SHANK. This can be purchased at your local Janome Dealer. The Janome

Convertible Free Motion Shank I like because there is a spring to the right and screw that

allows you adjust the height of the foot or the distance from the foot to the quilt.

Convertible Free Motion Quilt Foot Set (High Shank) Part # 202001003

Step 3: Also, from a Janome Dealer you will need to purchase the Convertible Free Motion Frame Quilting

Feet for 1600. These optional feet can be used with the Convertible Free Motion Quilt Shank. The ruler toe

foot is a perfect height for the ¼” rulers. It actually looks like a hopping foot that the long arm machines have.

With most domestic home sewing machines, the free motion foot is thin and you have to worry about the foot

sliding under the ruler or template and possibly breaking a needle. Per the instructions on the package attach the ¼ inch ruler foot to the Janome Convertible Free Motion Quilt Shank.

Convertible Free-Motion Frame Quilting Feet for 1600P Series

Part Number: 767434005

. Step 4: Attach the Convertible Free Motion Quilt Shank to the Bernina 77 Adapter.

Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

Step 5: Attach the Bernina foot 77 to the machine. If your machine is in a cabinet, drop the machine down so

it is flush within the cabinet or use the tray that came with the machine.

Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

Supreme Slider-When you are doing free motion quilting there is a lot of strain on your arms and shoulders to push and pull the quilt under the machine. In order to help the quilt move easily, I use the Supreme Slider on

the machine. A Supreme Slider is made of 100% Teflon which is very slippery and allows the fabric move

smoothly. This is important for domestic sewing machines. Place the white side up.

Setting up the Bernina 880 Machine The following are the settings that I found that would work with my Bernina 880 machine. Each machine may

be slightly different, but this will give you starting point or a guide to start by. 1. Select stitch number 1 in the Practical Stitches.

All screen shots property of Bernina of America Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

It will be necessary to trick the machine to think we have a different foot on the machine. Press the foot icon on

the left of the screen. As shown in the next picture, it is 1C.

3. Select the, the darning which foot 9.

All screen shots property of Bernina of America Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

4. Close the window.

5. If you would like, you can lower the feed dogs. Personally, I leave them up but adjust the stitch length to zero.

The zero stitch length keeps the tension in tack but doesn’t allow the fabric to move. Much like having the feed

dogs down. This will be an individual preference.

All screen shots property of Bernina of America Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

6. The needle position will need to be moved over to the right so that the needle is in the center of the ruler foot.

Press the right arrow button on the machine for the needle position 5 times. It will show as the below with the 9

foot.

7. Presser foot pressure will need to be adjusted. With the machine default settings, the foot will press on the

fabric not allowing it to move freely. This setting is one that will not be set in stone and is an individual setting

depending on the thickness of the quilt and your machine. I am working with muslin on the top and bottom

with Warm and Natural batting. Press the Pressure foot icon on the machine. Press the “–“ sign until you reach

at least a -20. Depending on your project thickness, you may need to go to -25 and also adjust the screw on the

Janome foot so that the foot just lightly touches the fabric. On a scrap piece of quilt sandwich, test to make sure

that the fabric moves freely under the foot when free motion quilting. You don’t want the foot too high. This

will cause the fabric to flag and you may experience skip stitches.

All screen shots property of Bernina of America Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

8. The last setting that needs to be made to the machine is the deactivating the hover feature when the needle is in

the down position. Press the setup icon on the right toolbar.

9. Press the plus on the Sewing Settings icon.

10. Press the plus on the Programming Function-button/Function icon.

11. Press the plus for the Press Foot Position with Needle Stop Down icon.

12. Press the first option that will not allow the foot to rise when you are not sewing and the needle is in the down

position. Remember we adjusted the pressure foot pressure in a previous step with the Janome foot shank

adapter. The foot will be raised slightly in this position.

All screen shots property of Bernina of America Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

13. Press the “X”.

You are now ready to do ruler work with your Bernina 880 as a sit down machine. The templates I highly

recommend and have had success with is Top Anchor Quilting Templates. Their website is

http://topanchorquilting.com/

All screen shots property of Bernina of America Copyright Reneah D. Rafferty, Inc. 2014

Back to Amy:

There it is folks! I hope this helps you to set up a ruler foot for your machine. This may not work exactly the

same across all models but should be fairly similar. Leave Reneah questions in the comments and I'll do my

best to get her to answer them. She reads this blog, so she may answer directly.

Posted by Amy @ Amy's FMQ Adventures at 2:24 PM 32 comments:

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Labels: free motion quilting, free motion quilting tools, quilting, ruler work, rulers on sewing machine, sewing

machines, techniques, tips

Monday, December 1, 2014

8 Free Motion Quilting Tips for Confident Beginners

It's said over and over again, practice is important when it comes to free motion quilting. This implies we

make a bunch of practice pieces, but really, how long does it take before we're sick of making hot pads and

place mats?

Then there's a project we just need to get done and fast. Perfect for a little machine quilting. Maybe it's that

baby quilt that needs to be made this weekend. We know it doesn't have to be perfect so we decide we're

moving on from those practice pieces.

So here's 8 tips to make those first free motion quilted projects look their best:

First, the set-up: Make sure you've got a set-up that will set you up for success. A smooth large workspace,

preferably with your machine set into a table, cabinet, or large extension table. A chair at a comfortable height

to your sewing surface. Quilting gloves or some other grip method. (See my How to Free Motion Quilt Series:

The Set Up) Decent lighting, quality thread and a new needle will help get you off to a good start.

None of these battings are junk, but they are certainly thin. The top batting is my favorite 80/20 blend.

Batting: Use a medium thick batting. Nothing too poofy, but a little more room for less than perfect tension to

hide within its thickness. A good quality medium thickness won't tend to flag up the needle or get poked down

into the bobbin area if you don't have a straight stitch needle plate. My favorite batting is an 80/20 blend.

Thread: Choose a polyester thread of high quality. I know, I know, don't send me hate mail if you're a cotton

purist. (Use some Aurifil if you can't stand the poly.) But a good 40 weight poly thread is probably the

easiest thread to free motion quilt with. It's strong and smooth too, so it's less likely to break or fray.

Thread color: Use thread that matches or blends with the fabrics of the top. If you decide to use a variegated

thread (and I don't recommend it, no matter how pretty it looks on the spool or how well it harmonizes with

your top.), choose a quilting design without backtracking.

See how the variegated thread looks when back tracking? The top fabric here is black (despite it's appearance in

this pic) and I used black thread in the bobbin.

Match your thread: Using matching top and bottom thread can hide minor tension issues. As a beginner, you

will have tension issues that pop up in certain curves due to changes in hand motions or speed. Most quilters use

the same color (or close to it) in the top and bobbin. If you decided to use a variegated thread on top, use a solid

color in the bobbin that blends with the top, with the top thread, and the back.

See how much harder it is to see the quilting on the prints?

Backing: Having done all the above, use a backing that is a busy print or matches the thread used. You will see

the texture the quilting provides, but not focus on individual lines of stitches. I still forget this tip all the time,

tending to think, "what fabrics can I use up on this backing without using my best fabrics?"

A light solid backing with brightly colored thread will show off every bobble!

Relax: Take frequent breaks to keep from getting too tense. No one can quilt well when tense. The shoulders

will sneak up to the ears and the back will curve forward. It's not good for your quilting and it's certainly not

good for your body.

Finally, don't judge your quilting harshly while sitting at the machine . Take it out and spread it on a bed or

a table and look with your eyes at 3 feet minimum from the project.

I hope you find these tips useful as you begin to quilt on your quilts. Don't forget to keep practicing on things

that don't matter as much. This skill takes a lot of practice and there are so many variables to adjust on each

project. With some care and the tips above you can go ahead and quilt your quilts before you are overrun with

hot pads and place mats!

And don't worry, we all have those first quilts we tried our FMQ on before we really should have. They still

warm the heart and build your skill.