Just imagine that you have a fishing rod, boat and all other components except for an angle and you go on fishing.
Can you actually catch any fish? No, you can never even imagine it.
Similarly, no matter how good a sewing machine you use and how expert you’re, you can’t sew as required if there is no foot with the machine.
A foot is a simple sewing machine tool that lets you project your imaginative mind extraordinarily on the fabrics you’re sewing. From usual sewing to embroidery and to quilting, everywhere it plays a dominant role in enriching your projects.
With the compilation of such most used feet, today we present you with the following write up.
A Complete Guide To Sewing Machine Feet: Utilities In Detail
Go through each to explore its utilities to the fullest. Who knows that the most suitable foot for your next project might be listed and explained?
Let’s get started!
Stitch Guide Foot
With another name – presser foot with ruler and resemblance of a gauge presser foot, a stitch guide foot makes your sewing accurate.
It basically lets you sew, echo quilt or piece the parallel or straight lines infallibly with ease. You can even stitch the seam allowances with precision between ⅛-inch and ¾-inch width.
Here is a glimpse of its multiple uses:
- Top/parallel/straight stitch
- Echo quilt
- Piece
- Large seam allowance stitch
Universal Presser foot
A universal foot basically refers to the foot that you can use not only for zigzag and straight stitches but also for some other decorative stitches.
Open Toe Foot / Large Opening Presser Foot
To add trims, yarns and ribbons to the surface of your garments, an open toe foot can be your great helping hand.
In addition, the foot hardly has any alternative when it comes to the stitching of blanket, edge and decors. Its use provides you with a wide view. At the same time, the groove under it eases your dense decorative stitching without getting jammed.
Moreover, there are two variations of this particular foot – walking and embroidery.
Want to learn more about the two in detail? Keep following us below!
Open Toe Walking Foot
Sewing with an open toe presser foot is just like sewing with your commonly used sewing foot.
However, the foot features something additional for you. Guess what? It’s in-built feed dogs that can grip the fabrics from the top more evenly.
When to use this foot?
- If the fabric is a stubborn one or very inconvenient like sticky, slippery, too lightweight, stretchy or creepy. There will be no visible dragline after the sewing.
- When there are two layers of garments or more than that
- If you want to match your fabric’s designs to the seams or seam intersections
- When you need to embellish your apparels with trimmings and embellishments
Be informed that you can use the foot for the same outputs with quilting as well.
Open Toe Embroidery Foot
Featuring no bridge between the toes, the foot facilitates your embroidery by offering you an unobstructed view.
Apart from that you can create eye-catching applique designs, patterns and lines too gorgeously. Moreover, your decorative stitching and surface embellishments becomes a breeze.
The foot is a great blessing especially when you embroider with a regular sewing machine.
Zipper Foot
If you are to add zippers to your garments or outfits, zipper foot does the job elegantly and accurately. It lets you sew as close to the edge as possible without sewing into the teeth of the zipper and using the presser foot.
However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use it to meet other needs. Instead, using it you can accomplish cording or piping from the beginning to the end like a professional.
Zipper foot has the following variations: standard, invisible and adjustable.
A standard foot usually comes with the sewing machine and is usable with most of the garments and accessories. On the contrary, the invisible zipper foot makes your attires more attractive yet it cannot be used for multipurpose.
Interestingly, an adjustable foot is the sheer combination of the two – standard and invisible. Therefore, using it you can sew a regular and an invisible zipper professionally.
Additionally, you can have a zipper foot with a low shank that serves you the same purpose while fitting a less expensive machine featuring a low shank.
Nail Button Pressing Foot
Adding buttons to your garments using this foot is simple and easy as you don’t need to use hands in any way.
The foot keeps the buttons standstill, prevents them from slipping and offers you a clear view.
Along with buttons, the tool allows the addition of hooks, eyes, trims and ribbons to your garments.
Applique Foot
Applique foot or embroidery foot whatever you call it, is an amazing tool to enrich your embroidery like never before.
Being a completely open foot, it gives you a clear view to work on. In addition, the tool featuring an indentation lets dense zigzag stitching slide through, not getting jammed.
Furthermore, the subtle angle of the indentation allows you to follow curves and embroider them accurately.
Round Bead Foot
From the name, the function of the foot should already be clear to you.
However, in case you’re still not sure of its use, this foot is made specially to make your bead attachment tireless. The tool makes sure that the beads fit into the gaps in a blanched way.
This doesn’t only save your time and effort but also makes the attachments look fabulous.
3mm Roll Of Lace Presser Foot
Nothing to be upset with the lengthy name of the foot as its abbreviated title is narrow hem foot.
The foot is a master in imposing classy narrow edges to your fabric adopting zigzag stitches. It is more convenient to use with soft and lightweight fabrics.
In addition to 3mm, the foot is available in 6mm as well. This size is for adding comparatively wide edges.
Zigzag Foot
A zigzag foot is like a mobile phone that connects you to many without any limit. From usual stitches to decorative, everywhere this foot fits like an ambidextrous.
Although its area of usage is boundless yet here we have shortlisted the tasks that you can do with it
- Decorative stitches along the blanket
- Bar tacks
- Embroidery with regular sewing machine
- Buttonhole stitch
- Cord gathering
- Tear repairing
- Sewing or stitching elastic
- Hemming edge finishes
- Neatening seam edges
- Creating applique letters or shapes
- Creating satin stitch
- Sewing stretch fabrics
In short, a zigzag foot is an all-purpose one that meets almost all the basic or everyday sewing necessities.
Satin Stitch Foot
With the pen name of special purpose or applique foot, a satin stitch foot resembles an open toe foot significantly. It’s a marvelous weapon for you to sew dense decorative stitches.
The tool features a deeper tunnel down under it so that stitches can pass through easily without getting jammed.
Cording Foot
By the name you might have already understood its use, haven’t you?
Yes, you got that right!
A cording foot is basically in use for piping. It lets you secure a thin cord, ribbon or yarn to any project precisely and easily.
Braiding Foot
A braiding foot along with braiding serves you almost all the purposes of a cording foot. Therefore, it is also known as cording foot and often couching foot as well.
It’s a versatile foot that is pair able with all the commonly used stitches. You can additionally use it with rick-rack, narrow lace and sequins.
Standard Presser Foot
It won’t be wrong in comparing a standard presser foot to an average student who passes the tests with an average score.
The foot, often known as all-purpose foot, is usable with almost all kinds of projects yet is not the best performer. You can pair it with fabrics from lightweight to heavyweight.
However, the tool works in the best possible way with straight and zigzag stitches.
¼” Quilting Foot
To feed your quilt piece through the sewing machine maintaining a ¼-inch seam allowance precisely, this particular foot hasn’t yet any better substitution.
Generally, a foot features markings in inches so that you can be infallible in stitch measurement and pivoting. The foot is also supposed to get fit to all the sewing machines irrespective of their models.
Straight Stitch Foot
Are you about to deal with super fine or lightweight fabrics? Then, a straight stitch foot can be an ideal choice for you.
You can even incorporate it with heavyweight fabrics and fabrics of multiple layers. Moreover, the professional weavers and knitters find the tool to be incomparable.
The foot features a flat downside so that the pressure against the feed dogs remains even. Again, its rounded needle hole is able to prevent the stitches from skipping and puckering.
More interestingly, to keep your dealing of multiple layers safe and convenient, its one of the toes is elongated.
Overcast Foot
With the pseudonym of over locker or over edge foot, this one has a huge popularity as an alternative to serger.
The foot basically offers you an edging that is usually offered by a serger. However, you must make sure that you use an overlocking stitch.
It’s not necessary that the foot works only with regular fabrics; you can also pair it with knit and stretch ones.
5 Hole Cording Foot
Creating decorative stitches over the cording on single or multiple layers of fabrics is a real hassle.
But, we guarantee that your experience won’t be the same with a 5 hole cording foot. With it your attachment of decorative threads and cords become a breeze.
The foot makes sure that the cords parallelly lie flat so that you can have complete control over the fabric.
7 Hole Cording Foot
Do you want to have fabulous 3-dimensional decorative effects over your garments easily? This particular foot with 7 holes can do the miracle for you.
With it you can sew high-sheen threads and embroidery floss of 7 unique lengths at a time. And, the decorative braids and borders that you will have as final outputs will mesmerize your mind.
Apart from these, the foot also offers you all other benefits of the 5 hole foot.
Edge Joining Foot
Sounds unknown? Well, are you then acquainted with the stitch in the ditch foot?
Yes, we’re talking about that!
This foot is in use widely for the following projects:
- Stitch-in-the-ditch
- Stitching the edges
- Joining fabrics side-by-side
- Trim attachment
- Simple tucking
- Top stitching
- Baby hem
- Applique
The special feature for which the foot has name and fame is the center bar or simply blade. It ensures that your edge stitching is uniform and even.
Double Welting Foot
If you are a fancy housewife who wants poshness on every garment of the room, then this foot is for you.
Have a look below to learn what you can do with this tool:
- Making trim
- Covering the raw edges of the trim or braid on the upholstery and home dec
- Adding decorative stitches to cushions, pillows and home accessories
Although the foot functions almost in the same way of a piping foot yet for the cording of larger sizes, a welting foot wins the ground.
Fringe Foot
To add 3-dimensional fringes or loops to your decorative workpieces or attach buttons, a fringe foot is simply matchless. The only stitch with which the foot offers such groundbreaking performance is the zigzag.
O, remember that the foot is also recognized as a tailor tuck or looper foot. Okay?
The outstanding effects that the foot lets you create are: chenille, eyelash, faux fagoting, eyelash loops and faux hemstitching.
Although the foot allows you to use any kind of thread yet using a thicker one brings the greatest output. Keep in mind if the fabric you’re stitching is lightweight, it will be far better for a fringe foot.
Adjustable Bias Tape Binder Foot
Sewing the Binding is a tiresome job that requires you to sew the fabric’s back first, then flip and continue sewing.
With a vision to exempt you from this unbearable hassle, an adjustable binder foot is manufactured.
The foot with its special mechanism allows you to sew the two sides at a one go with further precision. This does save your valuable time and effort simultaneously.
Shirring Foot
Shirring foot or gathering foot is an ideal sewing tool for –
- Making a gathers over a single piece of fabric
- Shirring using elastic thread
- Sewing 2 fabric layers while using one of them for gathering
- Making ruffles and frills
You will find the foot to be utterly convenient to pair with up to medium weight fabric.
3mm Narrow Edge Presser Foot
Simply known as round rolled or narrow hem foot, a 3mm narrow edge foot eases your sewing of narrow hem or curved hemlines significantly.
Eliminating the necessity of manual press over the hem for creating an even narrow hem, the foot makes your job easier.
You will feel the special utility of it while sewing sheer and fine fabrics.
6mm Wide Edge Presser Foot
By the name you must have already understood the expertise of the foot, haven’t you?
However, a 6mm wide edge foot works just opposite to our immediate previous foot. This tool facilitates your sewing of wide hems especially when you use heavyweight fabrics.
Roller Foot
Feeding thicker and napped fabrics, vinyl, leather, and heavy knits is no less than a battle. Same is the case when you’re dealing with slippery fabrics e.g. chiffon and velvet as you can hardly have a tough grip of it.
And, to relieve you of such tiresome and time-killing projects, a roller foot is simply a blessing.
The foot with its 3 unique size rollers make the feeding a breeze for you. No need to waste a lot of energy anymore!
Additionally, the foot is usable with straight and zigzag stitches to meet your everyday sewing necessities.
Sewing Beads Presser Foot
Do you expect your garments to be embellished with pearls and beads-like embellishments?
We appreciate your taste but be sure that attaching the embellishments with bare hands is a task next to impossible. Even if you are able to attach them, the output might not be professional and elegant.
Wait, why take the risk when the bead presser foot, also called pearl or sequin foot, is out there in the market?
The foot is a revolutionary sewing gadget that fits beautifully to beads and fabrics of any weight. Moreover, the process of attachment is too easy for anyone.
Buttonholing Presser Foot
Just like the attachment of beads, the creation of holes for buttons is a hard nut to crack. But, if you do the job with a buttonhole foot, it is expected to be easier and quicker with a professional finish.
Remember that the foot has variation depending on the number of steps it takes to create each hole. The more the steps, the more time and effort it takes of you.
If you’re a mere beginner you should always go for a 1-step buttonhole foot.
Darning Foot Low Shank
Are you disgusted with the breaking of thread while doing embroidery or free-motion quilting specially when using heavy threads?
Then, for you a darning foot is a heavenly blessing that eliminates the breaking.
How does the miracle happen?
Well, the foot simply does not let the fabric lift when the needle is lifted.
However, some of these feet allow you to create monograms with a professional touch.
O, remember that quilting foot, free motion foot, embroidery foot and stippling foot are the other names of this foot.
Again, keep in mind that the basic difference between a darning foot and a low shank darning foot is subtle. When a low shank darning foot is pairable with a sewing machine featuring low shank, a darning foot may fit most of the machines.
Blind Stitch Foot
Blind stitch or hem foot, whatever you call it, is a highly trustworthy sewing foot that you can use to sew blind hem stitches with ease and quality. The purpose is to make the hems of your clothes, including skirts and pants, invisible.
Moreover, as you change the needle’s position to do hem stitching along a straight line, you can use this particular foot as an infallible guide.
Furthermore, the tool is too good for sewing topstitch edges.
Knit Foot
Can you remember the walking foot from the very beginning of this write up? Well, this is the foot that is popularly addressed as the sister of a walking foot.
Unlike many other feet, it applies pressure on the fabric from below and above simultaneously. Thereby, it is a popular choice to sew jerseys and t-shirts as it can handle stretch material and disorderly knit in the best possible way.
7-Groove Pintuck Foot
Thinking of sewing fine pintucks on fabrics of lightweight or heavyweight? Then, have this foot specifically to experience a never-seen performance.
You need not to invest time and effort to measure or mark to ensure that the pintucks are spaced in a balanced way.
Along with pintucks, the sewing gadget performs the best with trimming, smocking, entredeux, mini-piping and chopstick work.
A 9-groove pintuck foot doesn’t have much dissimilarity with the 7-groove except for 2 more grooves. It does meet the similar needs of you.
Final words
To sum up, whether it’s sewing, quilting or embroidery, it is not possible to get the best out of you with the assistance of the relevant foot. Therefore, you should always be aware of different kinds of feet and their unique uses. It will help you take the right decision regarding the foot that suits your projects optimally.