Description
Free motion quilting and embroidery have become more and more popular in recent years, as has the resurgence of make do and mend and sustainable sewing, meaning that people are repairing their old clothes rather than replacing them. Unfortunately, feet to allow your Featherweight to do either have been scarce, especially since they did not come as standard with either the 221 or 222.
This reproduction foot should fulfil all your free motion stitching desires – remember to select the correct one for your machine from the available options, the feet are slightly different for the 221 and 222.
To use:
If you are using one of these feet with a 221/221K, you will need a feed dog cover plate to work with it, while with a 222 you can just drop your feed dogs by using the darning lever. In both cases, set your stitch length to neutral, which is where the stitch length lever is roughly at right angles to the machine, just before you’d push it up to reverse stitch.
Attaching the foot to the machine takes a wee bit of practice as the foot is spring loaded, however I found it easiest if I remove the needle, completely remove the presser foot screw and then squeeze the lever that goes over the needle bar down until it touches the bar while holding the part that goes round the needle bar as straight as possible before screwing in place.
When it comes to stitching, remember that the motor is not a big, powerful one, so it will need a rest every 30-45 mins or so, especially if it seems like it’s heating up (check this regularly). Allow it to cool down completely before starting again and keep a tube of motor lubricant to hand, as the motor will use up more during sustained free motion sewing than it would with regular straight stitching.
If you are using thicker, heavier fabrics than quilting cotton, then you will need to increase the pressure on your foot by adjusting the knob at the top. This is to allow for enough compression of the layers being stitched through to allow a stitch to form properly.
