“Open Toe Stitching”

Today I am working on finishing a quilt for a bridal shower happening later this month.  I will be adding embroidered quilting designs but before I do, I am stitching in the ditch to secure all my layers together.  I have a number of options in terms of feet I usually use for stitch-in-the ditch, but today I decided to try something new and thought I would share that with you.

Usually I choose one of these feet for my stitch-in-the-ditch. All of them have a metal guide to help me stay in the “ditch”.

I decided to try using my Clear Open Toe foot.  It worked great!  I could see every single “ditch” so well and therefore was able to sew much faster than I usually can with the bonus of excellent accuracy. 

Husqvarna Viking Clear Open Toe Foot
Pfaff Open Toe Foot for IDT

I did make some adjustments to use this foot.  I set my machine for “needle down” to make sure each time I stopped my fabric would not unexpectedly move.  This was important especially at intersections where I needed to pivot.  Since the toe of this foot is open, I clearly saw where my “ditch” was ending and so did not overshoot at the intersections! 

Since I could see so well I was able to stop with accuracy at each intersection. I didn’t overshoot one!
All this visibility allowed me to stay in the “ditch” and sew with more speed and confidence.

I also lowered my presser foot pressure from its normal 6.0 to 3.0 (remember, some machines adjust this pressure with a knob either on the top or the left hand side of the machine while some machines let you adjust this in the Set Menu).  Lastly, I changed the straight stitch from a 2.5 length to a 3.0.  Now that my stitch-in-the-ditch is finished, it’s on to the embroidery!