straight stitch throat plate

start with a darning foot for the quilting - I have a janome 419S (also low shank) and it works so much better if it has a foot in place - the shank itself really isn't enough to keep the fabric down with every stitch and having tried that and almost sewn my hand as well as a finger in place I can't advise sewing footless anyway.

threads and points can get pulled into the zigzag hole as you start sewing

*however* as you ought to be holding onto *both* of the thread tails while starting you can avoid the thread being eaten along with the fabric if you just hold on a tad longer :-)

IMHO a darning foot would be the better investment. I have over 80 machines, mostly vintage ones, and have tried free motion quilting on most of them, I have both straight stitch only machines with a straight stitch plate, and zig zag with the zig zag plate. I found it didn't make a difference :) I do my absolute best free motion quilting on my Viking, it has a zig zag plate. But I use a darning foot with the feed dropped.

-Irene

I always use the zig zag throat plate. Barbara in Central FL

It has sure been worthwhile for me. I find fabric doesn't get pulled into the throat plate as much. I think it's especially useful when sewing triangles, altho' at the moment I can't remember why! Maybe you could try one at a local SM store before buying? I tend to be skeptical of most things but that lived up to its billing (as did a 1/4 inch foot, and--until I began doing free motion quilting--a walking foot.)

Dogmom

Just don't forget to change it before you try to use a zigzag stitch or change the needle position for a straight stitch. I'm sure I would, so I have never bothered to get a straight stitch throat plate.

Julia > I've been googling for tips and one thing that has come up is using a

good to hear from someone with a similar machine, interestingly it wasn't amongst the numerous things the teacher suggested, and I managed fine on a viking machine without a foot, but I think I will go that route, just got to decide now whether I'll drag myself over to the Janome shop tomorrow or wait until Saturday and see what I can get in JoAnns.

Anne

I have only just started using one of these. I can't give you an evaluation, though! I bought it so that my free-motion quilting - which needs all the help it can get! - would be better. As my FMQ comes out different every time!, I can't say whether it is the single-hole plate which helped; but, the last miniature I did looked better than usual - and the back was miraculous! The rest of the group said they thought the border had been a stencil; and I did notice that the SITD was much easier to keep in its place. Now, as I say, that could have just been good fairies that day - but I am willing to attribute at least some of the 'quality' to the new plate. They are expensive, though, so if you can have a try with someone else's first, that might be a good idea. I do think the feet are more important. . In message , Anne Rogers writes

I have a "cheap" generic foot - an oval one with the front cut out (by the sewing machine people at my request when I was doing a free motion embroidery class and had a hard time seeing what I was doing) it may be that janomes don't like sewing footless - machines can be finicky about things sometimes LOL

good luck finding the solution that fits you and your machine :-)

I have one for every one of my 3 machines and use them regularly. I would recommend one without hesitation. They solve a lot of problems when sewing light weight fabric in a straight stitch. No grabbing of fabric in the oval zig zag hole. Just remember to switch it back to the regular plate when doing other sewing that requires zig zag stitch. I often leave one of the machines (set up) for straight stitch when I don't want to bother to switch the plates around.

John

Couldn't live without mine. I use a 1/4" foot and can still move (my preferred) 2 tics to the right and make that hole.

Just don't forget to change if you have to zigzag... or wear safety glasses when you sew.

Cindy