With the Darning Foot you can safely free motion stitch your quilts and embroidery projects!

1. Switch off your sewing machine.

2. Unscrew and remove the standard presser foot.

3. When attaching the #14 darning foot, ensure the long metal bar goes over the needle. This is what drives the movement of this darning foot as the feed dogs will be dropped while sewing.

When attaching the #23 spring darning foot, it is easiest to attach while pressing the spring up before inserting it on the shank.

5. Attach the darning foot on the shank and tighten the screw using the tool that came with your machine, or a flat head screwdriver.

6. Test using your hand crank (never the foot pedal!) to make sure your needle passes through the eye of the foot with no contact.

7. Ensure the feed dogs are either dropped or covered. Refer to your sewing machine's user manual if you are unsure how to do this. You will be moving the fabric beneath the needle, rather than letting the feed dogs guide the fabric through.

It is this complete freedom of movement that allows the stunning quilting designs of hearts, feathers and more to be created.

8. When quilting you will need to drop the needle and hand crank to sew a single stitch. Pull the lower thread through to the top of the work to avoid snagging. Tie it off and bury the loose ends in your work as soon as possible. This will avoid sewing over your loose ends which then become far more difficult to remove neatly.

9. When you have finished you free motion work, bring both ends of thread to the same side, tie off and bury in your work.

NOTE:

To bury your loose ends, simply thread them into a hand needle and insert the needle into the same hole where the knot is or just behind it. Run the needle inside the layers of your quilt. It is a good idea to double check the back side to make sure your threads aren't visible there. Push the needle to the front of your quilt about an inch away from your starting point. Pull your thread ends through and give them a gentle tug. Make sure the knot pops below the surface of the fabric. Use scissors to trim the tails, as you release the end it should slide back into your quilted fabric. See our video tutorials on these techniques here: https://youtu.be/riny3RbWkVY and here: https://youtu.be/H_Bqt4ebwac

Here are some of our relevant blog posts with tutorial videos you might find helpful!