To those of you who love the Horizon I have a question. Ihave the 02 piecing foot but my fabric either gets eaten or it doesn't want to feed the fabric through if you have to start with a couple seam layers. Then when you go over several seams it wants to jump to the side. Also, how do you pin for accurate seam intersections when the piecing foot has that guide that doesn't go over pins. You have to pull them out with a good 1/2" of space yet before your needle gets to the seam intersection. I am having some terrible issues with this. When I got the machine I started with free motion, which is great and some basic piecing which was fine. But now I am doing more intricate piecing where accuracy counts and am having a terrible time. Any suggestions ? I have been a quilter for over 15 years so i am not a "newbie". Am starting to wonder if this machine was a mistake. Thanks, Ann
Hi Ann
schmitzwilson: To those of you who love the Horizon I have a question. Ihave the 02 piecing foot but my fabric either gets eaten or it doesn't want to feed the fabric through if you have to start with a couple seam layers. Sometimes I will start with a scrap piece under the presser foot for a few stitches just to get started, that tends to keep the fabric from being eaten. Then when you go over several seams it wants to jump to the side. I have found that same problem with all my machines so I try to slow down when going over multiple layers like that. Also, how do you pin for accurate seam intersections when the piecing foot has that guide that doesn't go over pins. You have to pull them out with a good 1/2" of space yet before your needle gets to the seam intersection. I use the flat headed quilter's pins and they seem to be thinner. I again slow down and slide the pin under the guide until it is close to the needle. Then slide the pin out and after the intersection I speed up until the next pin. I do this on both my machines as I have the same 1/4" foot on both machines. I am having some terrible issues with this. When I got the machine I started with free motion, which is great and some basic piecing which was fine. But now I am doing more intricate piecing where accuracy counts and am having a terrible time. Any suggestions ? I have been a quilter for over 15 years so i am not a "newbie". Am starting to wonder if this machine was a mistake. Thanks, Ann
To those of you who love the Horizon I have a question. Ihave the 02 piecing foot but my fabric either gets eaten or it doesn't want to feed the fabric through if you have to start with a couple seam layers. Sometimes I will start with a scrap piece under the presser foot for a few stitches just to get started, that tends to keep the fabric from being eaten.
Then when you go over several seams it wants to jump to the side. I have found that same problem with all my machines so I try to slow down when going over multiple layers like that.
Also, how do you pin for accurate seam intersections when the piecing foot has that guide that doesn't go over pins. You have to pull them out with a good 1/2" of space yet before your needle gets to the seam intersection. I use the flat headed quilter's pins and they seem to be thinner. I again slow down and slide the pin under the guide until it is close to the needle. Then slide the pin out and after the intersection I speed up until the next pin. I do this on both my machines as I have the same 1/4" foot on both machines.
I am having some terrible issues with this. When I got the machine I started with free motion, which is great and some basic piecing which was fine. But now I am doing more intricate piecing where accuracy counts and am having a terrible time. Any suggestions ? I have been a quilter for over 15 years so i am not a "newbie". Am starting to wonder if this machine was a mistake. Thanks, Ann
Paris, Ontario
Hi Ann,
I haven't had any problems with the O2 foot like that, but here are my suggestions:
- for the "eating"... use a leader/ender piece before your project piece.. If you use 2.5" squares for this, evenutally you'll have a basket full that you can use to make 4 patches or 9 patches, etc.
- to pin for accurate seams, I started pinning from the left hand side so that just a smidgen of the tip of the pin is going under the foot
- jumping to the side on several seams... I haven't encountered that, but you could decrease the speed at which you're feeding the piece(s) - see if that helps.. or what others have done is use a "hump jumper" (funky gadget that you can buy), or just use a sewing machine needle case, you know those fairly flat ones that are less than a 1/4" thick? Have that under the presser foot at the back and bump your fabric right up to it and start feeding it through. That way the foot isn't "jumping" to get on top of the pile to be sewn.
Believe me, the machine is not a mistake, it just takes a little more time to get use to than most.
We also have a wonderful yahoo group with some expert sewing/quilting people, like Sarah-Anne Smith, if you're interested. The group is called JanomeHorizon7700
You would not believe the wealth of information in that group, with over 1500 members!
Laurie - Ottawa, ON Canada
Ottawa, ON Canada
HI Ann.
I haven't owned Zelda for 2 weeks yet so I'm not a great expert on the 7700 (or much else actually) , but purchased the Acufeed 1/4" piecing foot with the machine. Cost was $22 and it works beautifully over multiple layers. To achieve a scant !/4" seam, I needed to set the needle at about 6.0. I was using it yesterday and had no problems with the start up or when chain piecing. She didn't mind sewing over 5 layers of fabric when I joined the strips to form the blocks. The metal guide would go over a pin if I lifted the foot just as the pin reached the metal piece. I like the idea of pinning from the left though and my pins are long enough to do that.
I am not too impressed with the 02 foot so far, as the seam is wider than 1/4" and that is a problem I had with my previous machine (but that machine didn't have an adjustable needle). Bad memories. I like using an even feed foot when piecing as the layers of fabric tend to stay in place better.
Leslie on Vancouver Island, Canada
canuckquilter71:, but purchased the Acufeed 1/4" piecing foot with the machine. Cost was $22 and it works beautifully over multiple layers
I actually intend to piece on a Featherweight I just purchased but it is currently getting a check up so I haven't tried it yet. Each machine I use has to be set up after taking down another one so sometimes when the lazy streak is active, it might not happen and so I wanted to find out if piecing would work on the 7700.
I also bought another Acufeed foot for stitching in the ditch and it works beautifully too and without any needle adjustment at all. It was $27. I have a tic-tac-toe top I'm quilting and it is a natural for stitching in the ditch.
There was a third Acufeed food that had an open toe but I couldn't figure out how I would used it so didn't purchase it. I'm not much for decorative stitching but it would probably be good for that.
Leslie