Once upon a time there was a sewing machine with one foot, one foot for sewing a straight stitch.

Now there are sewing machines with many feet and they all do a different job for you. They certainly make life at the sewing machine more enjoyable and easier. Some of these feet come with your machine and your manual will have the information for you on what application they are used for.

By taking the time to try these attachments for your sewing machine, you will find a whole new creative side to yourself, and you thought your machine was for sewing.

I'd like to take you through some of these sewing feet and what they can do. Your machine comes with the straight stitch foot and a zig-zag foot, these tow are normally standard. Some machines come with other feet as standard to that make or model and then there are the extra feet you can purchase to do those wonderful sewing jobs for you. I'd like to take you through these feet. These are the names as I know them, some of these may have different names with different manufacturers but the stitches they will be the same.

Braid Foot

The narrow and wide braid feet both have a hook on the front of the foot slip and a narrow tunneled groove underneath. It is used when you want to add cording or braid. The cord is laced through the hook and under the foot slip into the tunneled groove. There is a braid-guide attachment you can attach near the presser foot shank to keep the braid or cord taut while stitching, no tangles.

Buttonhole Foot

The buttonhole foot can be recognized by it's rectangle shaped foot with thin extensions at either end, a raised square on top of the foot and small grooves on the bottom of the foot. It is similar to some embroidery feet. It makes sewing buttonholes very easy.

Eyelet Foot

I don't know how many of you would want to be sewing eyelets but if that is what you want to do then this is the foot for you. It is a very specialized foot. It is a H-shaped flat foot, has a small cylinder shape attachment to the top surface.

Gathering Foot

This one is very handy. It is a small L-shaped foot with a slot on the bottom side. The bottom of the foot is higher at the front than the back. This causes the foot to rock when attached to the machine. This rocking creates the gathers. You set the stitch length at a higher setting to get more gathers and a normal setting to get less gathers. If you are gathering a single piece of fabric, feed the fabric under the foot or use the side slot to stitch one piece of fabric to another.

Narrow Bias Binder Foot

This foot has a coned shaped, slotted cylinder on the topside of the foot. It folds and applies the bias binding in one step.

Open-Toe Embroidery Foot

This foot will give you a view of your work so you can see the satin or decorative stitches between the widely spaced toes. There are grooves underneath to allow room for the stitches.

Pintuck Foot

This is a flat foot with grooves cut in underneath. This foot, used with a double needle will pinch and stitch lines of straight stitching in narrow raised patterns. The number of grooves will determine the spacing between the lines and the number of pattern lines. The three groove pintuck foot is used on heavier fabric or for wider designs and the for and five groove pintuck foot will be better on lightweight fabric or for narrower patterns.

Rolled Hemming Foot

If you want small double folded hems then this is the foot for you. Use it for medium to lightweight fabric. The groove on the bottom of the foot is the width of the finished hem. You will be able to sew hems with a straight stitch, zig-zag or decorative stitch. This has so many uses, think of lingerie, ruffles, curtains, scarves, table linen, wonderful.

Roller Foot

This is a very handy foot, the metal roller feeds the fabric and keeps it from stretching and bunching, great for thick, heavier fabric and fabric with a nap. Often called an even feed foot.

Ruffler Foot

This is a large foot with many components and you use it to evenly space ruffles and pleats. If you want to ruffle bigger jobs like curtains, skirts, home decor items then this foot will help enormously.

Teflon Foot

This foot is coated in teflon and we all know teflon is non-stick so this foot will stop those difficult fabrics like leather, suede or textured fabric. It allows the fabric to glide under rather than being fed. You can get it as a zig-zg or a straight stitch foot.

Walking Foot

This foot has teeth rather than a roller to feed the fabric evenly.

Welding Foot

This has two narrow claw like prongs instead of a small hole in the middle and is used for straight stitching close to the edge of a hem or seam

Zipper Foot

This is one of the best feet ever made for sewing machines, it looks like a straight stitch foot cut in half and then the outside edges joined in the center.

well, that is the more common types of the sewing machine feet available.

Most of these would be available for most machines on the market today. If you intend to do special sewing jobs then investing in the foot for that particular job could save you so much time.

© CTBaird 2006 SewMoreForU

About the Author Carmel Baird CTBaird, Author of Sew More For U, a DIY Sewing eGuide. Get great sewing tips and techniques,http://www.sewmoreforu.com/patterns.html http://www.sewmoreforu.com/sewingbook.html Contact the Author