Dazor lights/magnifiers

Hello,

I read consistently but don't post a lot, dropping in to say hi and ask a question!

My Mom is thinking of getting a lighted magnifier. She saw someone using one a quilting show and it looks like it would really help her as she's learning free motion quilting. It's not an insignificant purchase as far as $$ goes. There are several options - 3, 5 or more diopters, different models, etc. I'm completely unfamiliar with these.

Does anyone have any experience with these kinds of lights? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Stephanie

Reply to
Steph
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I'd like to hear opinions too. IME the best aid to free motion quilting is a good foot.

Instinct tells me that if everything was magnified, it would just make my quilting tighter and denser, not necessarily a good thing. I get my best results when I can move into the "zone". There's a rhythm that takes over and sort of produces the design without focusing too much on details.

You def>Hello,

Reply to
Roberta

Out of interest Roberta which is your favourite foot for FMQ?

Lizzy

Reply to
Lizzy Taylor

Reply to
Polly Esther

The best foot for free-motion quilting? There's just not a 'one-size fits all' for that question. Actually, I don't think 'one-size fits all' anything ever fit any body. My favorite is a metal circle with a spring on its shank(?) . I by-pass the one with the opening in the front (sort of looks like a horseshoe). Now and then it would poke its open toe into a stitch and cause a little mayhem. Bernina gave us one that is a clear plastic sort of rectangle; it sits ignored. At first, I used what I think was called a Big Foot. Broke a couple before I realized that I didn't like them anyway. The light would reflect from it and bounce into my eyes which was rather annoying and it hid where I'd been and where I was going. IMHO - of course. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Reply to
Roberta

On Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:36:33 -0600, Polly Esther wrote (in article ):

And unlike Polly, I love the horseshoe shaped foot for FM quilting on my Viking Designer 1. I have a plastic foot similar to the Big Foot that just gets ignored.

There best foot is the one you like best.

Maureen

Reply to
Maureen Wozniak

My floor lamp is old -- maybe around 30 years now -- and I wouldn't give it up for anything. It has a long swing-arm with a rectangular magnifier about

3.5 x 6 inches with a light above the glass. I use it for cross-stitch so I can move the lamp/magnifying lens just inches over the surface I'm working on. Makes it sooooo nice to be able to do very small (24 to inch) work. But to use it over the sewing machine? Nope. It would be much too bulky and get in the way. Perhaps the smaller desk lamp with magnifier? I saw a magnifier in one of the catalogs that sticks to the front of the machine just above the needle area and extends out. That looked like it would work but don't know about how well it magnifies; maybe someone here can tell you. But you'd still need a light. And one of those "bendable" lights that stick to the left side of the machine and flex over the sewing area looks appealing too. And together, both of these items would be significantly less than the costly mag lights I think.
Reply to
KT in Mich

Reply to
Roberta

Brighter is better for seeing what I'm doing at the SM so I use a floor Ott light that I can pull up close. I like the floor model because it doesn't take up valuable table space. And to magnify I use inexpensive magnifiers that clip on to my glasses (I found them at WalMart in the craft section). If you don't wear glasses perhaps inexpensive reading glasses would be an equivalent.

HTH Allison

Reply to
AllisonH

I think I saw this somewhere and I believe the light is battery operated. I don't know about you, but I would be hesitant to use a battery light because I'm cheap about batteries. If it's an LED light, it probably doesn't take much, but still.

The light I would get is the bendable bright light, available a lot of places at highly variable prices. Here is the Amazon link (hope it works!)

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I think I've seen it cheaper, but you get free shipping from Amazon. You can also get an extra bracket to us it on more than one machine. The only complaint I've heard is that you need to be careful where you place it, maybe tape it to the machine temporarily to see where exactly you want the bracket. No magnifier, but good light.

I am a light fanatic. That thing Polly said about dragging a highway light pole into the sewing room? Whoa, if only I could! Even with the Janome Horizon that supposedly has such great light, I need more. I have four and sometimes five (!) lights clamped to my two abutting tables that contain my Bernina and the Horizon. I swing them where I need them and STILL I want more. So I may be buying that bright light. Ah the perils of being over

60!

Iris

Reply to
IEZ

Oh, I so agree about the ones with the so-called clearview plastic feet. They are not clearview! I cannot see what I'm doing because of the reflections. The small circular ones are the best. And I like the hopping variety over the one that came with the Janome Horizon. It doesn't hop. You adjust it to rest lightly on the quilt. This is fine for whole-cloth quilts, but if you have seams, you are either always adjusting the foot, or it is hanging up.

Iris

Reply to
IEZ

Iris, I have the foot that glides over the quilt for my Janome 6600 and I don't like it either. The hopping foot give a little bit of control as the needle comes down and thru the fabric and the gliding foot will allow you to move the quilt when the needle is down or almost down, Seems like a set-up for big troubles.

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

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