How to Use a Walking Foot

Hold the walking foot and look at it before you fit it. The white housing holds the top feed teeth, which you can see under the foot. The lever arm on the side rides on your needle clamp; every time the needle goes up and down, the arm moves those teeth. The bent metal bar in the box is the quilting guide. Every walking foot looks a little different, so check your manual.

Raise the needle to its highest position and lift the presser foot lever. A walking foot replaces the whole foot holder, not only the snap-on foot. Take your screwdriver and loosen the screw on the side of the presser bar to remove the holder. Ashley keeps the holder and screw together so neither goes missing, since that is the foot she uses most.

Bring the walking foot in under the needle. The slot on the foot goes around the presser bar screw, and the arm needs to sit over the needle clamp. It is a little fiddly. Loosen the presser bar screw a bit more if you need room. Ashley calls this the finicky part, so take your time rather than forcing it.

Lift the lever arm and slide the foot onto the presser bar at the same time, so the arm straddles the needle clamp screw. The needle clamp moves up and down with the needle; that motion is what drives the top feed dogs. If the arm is not on the clamp, the foot will not walk. Check both points before you tighten.

Hold the walking foot in place and tighten the presser bar screw with your screwdriver. Lower the presser foot and give the screw another small turn so it is snug. A loose screw lets the foot wobble, and the needle could strike it. Turn the handwheel toward you once to make sure the needle passes cleanly through the opening.

Lower the foot onto the needle plate and look underneath. You should see the walking foot's own teeth sitting over the machine's feed dogs. Now you have two sets pulling the fabric together. Lift the presser foot a little higher than usual when you slide fabric under, because those top teeth can catch the edge.

Ashley tests it on a small quilt sandwich: a top, batting and backing held with safety pins. Slide it under the raised foot, lower the foot and start sewing at a steady speed. Watch the top teeth move with the needle. Even with pins, layers can shift under a regular foot. With a walking foot they stay together.

The guide bar slides into a hole at the back of the walking foot, on either side. Push it in and set the bent tip at the distance you want between quilting lines. For lines one inch apart, measure one inch from the needle to the tip of the guide. Tighten it if your foot has a set screw.

Move the fabric over until the tip of the guide bar sits on your first stitched line. Sew, keeping the guide on that line the whole way. Keep your eyes on the guide, not the needle. Each new line follows the one before, so you can cover a whole quilt in evenly spaced rows with no marking at all.

Lift the foot, pull the fabric out and look at your lines. They should run parallel, with the same gap from top to bottom. Ashley shows two lines that match. Snip the threads with small scissors, or bury the tails between the layers with a needle so they cannot work loose on a finished quilt.