Quilting advice please!

[mrsrobin]

I have started up my old sewing machine and am trying to make a small quilt. I am not experienced at all about quilting (or sewing for that matter).

The issue I have is with my walking foot - I purchased a generic cheaper one as I didn't want to fork out for a specific one for my machine at this stage (in case I didn't enjoy quilting). I am finding it really difficult to stay on my straight line - I find the foot kind of drifts about. Looking at it closely, the thing does look a little bit "flimsy". Is this a thing with generic "feet" - should I just get the proper one?

I can normally sew in a half decent straight line so I don't think it is me! Or maybe it is.....!

Any thoughts much appreciated :)

Have you attached it properly? IIRC there's a lever on the right hand side of the foot which has to go above something which sticks out - sorry, it's ages since I put one on my machine. Check your instruction book or online.

The cheap ones are really hit and miss. Is the foot bit really secure? If that falls off easily then can you tighten it up? It shouldn't go in a wavy line.

Thanks for your replies - yes it is attached properly with the lever thing in the right place!
The foot bit does seem fairly loose but it kind of clips on so can't be tightened. Maybe it wiggles a but which ends in the wavy line.
Wish I just bought the expensive one in the first place now :(

A lot of the cheap ones are OK. What machine do you have? The plate / foot needs to be tight.

If you have thin wodding and it's a small quilt you can use the zig zag standard plastic foot and a long stitch lenght. Choose the slowest speed and make sure you feed both sides through un bunched either side. On the machine the bot your quilting is totally flat for about a A4 size where the needle is in the centre of the A4. So keep stopping to get that bit flat. Once it's secure / quilted enough you can be more lax

Thank you for your reply. I will check the plate. I have a Brother machine - and it does have zigzag that can be adjusted so thanks for that tip, I might try it :)

Good luck, I love quilts, never as much fun making them as finishing them. I swear lots and think about throwing the machine out the window. Great for mindfulness 🤣

Great for mindfulness - agreed - even if it is annoying 😆

How big is the quilt that you're making? I find the weight tugs the foot about. I obviously can't see what you're up to so apologies if this is way off but could it be that?

It is very small! The first I have made - but I hear what you say about the foot being tugged about. It could be an issue - I will bear in mind imagining the A4 that Incessant described!

On my machine you can adjust for thickness of material.. lever in the bobbin compartment. If it's set for thicker things and I sew a fine cotton it will wave about and not grip properly.

Some quilting settings automatically set it to no grip so you can freely quilt patterns. If you want to straight stitch do not set it to 'quilting'.

Thanks for that - there are no "quilting" settings on my machine! It does seem to sew fine anyway. No thickness settings in the bobbin dept either!