It’s the end of the week, and I still have so much to tell you about the Husqvarna Viking PLATINUM™ Q160. That’ll have to wait until another week. Today is all about using the optional accessory feet.
Optional accessory feet
Yesterday, we explored the Ruler Foot, which is fantastic and easy to use. Today, we’ll have a quick peek at three more sets of Husqvarna Viking accessory feet.
Husqvarna Viking PLATINUM™ Q160
Glide Foot
The Glide Foot resembles a clear plastic bowl that allows excellent views of the needle position.
The Glide Foot
Where do you use the Glide Foot? It’s great for quilting over and around applique shapes.
I’m not quilting the quilt in this video, but showing you how easily the Glide Foot glides over multiple layers of applique without getting caught, even with the backing and batting added for the actual quilting.
You want to use the Glide Foot if your project has a lot of lumpy and bumpy seams, which can occur with quilts made from flying geese, half-square triangles, and other intense piecing patterns. Instead of the foot getting caught up on those lumps, the Glide Foot glides over them.
Again, I’m not quilting in this video but using an already quilted quilt to highlight how the Glide Foot moves over the bumpy seams without getting hung up on the bulk.
Square Foot Set
I decided to try the Square Foot Set next. This kit has two feet – one is for a ¼” seam and the other is for a ½” seam. They’re square, and while you can use a ruler with them, there’s a bracket on the back so the ruler works on the front and two sides of the feet.
The Square Feet Set with two feet
Since I wanted to learn about these feet, I read the literature in the package. I know – who does that? I do – all the time, and I’ve learned so much by reading. Well, I realized these feet make it possible to sew with the PLATINUM Q160. Seriously??? Who knew?
So, then I had to think of what to sew. Hey – What about the binding on the table runner I quilted yesterday. I wasn’t sure about stitching the binding to the quilt before I trimmed it, but I probably could’ve, as the table runner is square.
The table runner is square after the quilting process.
Before I trimmed the table runner, I ran a line of basting stitches around the outside to hold all three layers together to make it much easier to put the binding on. Then I trimmed the table runner and got out the binding. But do you see how I did the line of basting stitches around the edge? I used the ¼” Square Foot, which worked like a charm!
Use the ¼” Square Foot to baste around the edge of the table runner.
I cut my binding strips at 2½” and like to use a generous ¼” seam (close to 3/8”) when sewing the binding on the quilt. The ¼” foot was a bit too small, and the ½” foot was a bit large. So, I fudged it by leaving a bit of extra room when I used the ¼” foot. If you want to use the edge of the foot as a guide, adjust the width of your binding accordingly.
Sewing the binding to the table runner using the ¼” Square Foot
Remember, the PLATINUM™ Q160 is a free motion quilting machine, so I have to move the fabric as I’m sewing. I can use any stitching mode, Regulation (Cruise and Precision) or Manual, whichever works best for the current situation. I used Stitch Regulation with Cruise mode to get the desired number of stitches per inch.
Wow – who knew I could do that? I’ve heard of people stitching the binding on a quilt on a long arm (also a free motion quilting machine), but I’ve never done it. It was easy and fast!
So, I thought if I could sew the binding on, why couldn’t I piece with the ¼” foot. I dug out some fabric strips, backing, and batting.
Let’s piece a placemat with the ¼” Square Foot.
Using a ¼” seam allowance, I stitched the strips through the batting and the backing with the stitch and flip method.
Sewing a ¼” seam using the ¼” Square Foot
It’s not something I’d do every day, but if you’re in a bind or working with thick fabrics or thick batting, this is a good option.
When I got to the end of the seam in Stitch Regulation mode, the sensors couldn’t recognize the project, so I used a scrap of muslin as I did in the previous quilting process. I got a consistent stitch length right to the bottom of the seam.
Using muslin to trick the sensors in Stitch Regulation to work to the end of the seam
I kept sewing with the stitch and flip method until the batting was covered. I found the strips sometimes wonky, so I checked each strip before sewing to ensure they were straight.
The next seam was stitched to the batting.
Because the foot is square and you have so much room, you can technically position your fabric to the left or the right of the needle. If I sew one seam in one direction and one seam in the opposite direction, that might help with the seams I found were a bit wonky. It’s all about experimenting and figuring out how to use the tools to our advantage!
Stitching the seam with the work to the right of the needle
Echo Feet Set
Once my placemat was pieced, I used the Echo Feet Set to quilt it.
The Echo Feet Set
There are three echo feet in the kit, ⅜”, ½”, and ¾”, and because the base of each of them is perfectly circular, you can use a ruler to give you greater distances between the lines of stitching.
The ⅜” Echo Foot next to the original foot
The ¾” Echo Foot next to the original foot
The hardest part of any quilting is choosing the quilting motif. I decided to try a chevron across the placemat and drew a couple of chalk lines to help me.
A reference line for quilting the placemat
The chalk line was essential when quilting down to that line, as the reference line indicates where to pivot the ruler on an outside corner.
Using the chalk line as a reference when quilting an outside angle
But when quilting the inside corner, it was easy to use the foot to know when to pivot.
Pivoting on the inside corner
It’s so easy to get the same straight lines as I did with the Ruler Foot, except that now I’m getting more variety of distance in my lines by using the Echo Feet rather than relying on the ruler.
Using the ruler and one of the Echo Feet to echo the lines of quilting
And just like that – I now have two finished projects, and one still needs a bit of quilting. It took no time to quilt those projects, and it was fun using the Husqvarna Viking PLATINUM™ Q160. I have to say I fell in love with the quilting machine, and I hope to get to work on more quilts as it was so easy.
The projects I quilted on the PLATINUM™ Q160
There’s no comparison when I think back to the basic industrial quilting machine I spotted over 20 years ago and the PLATINUM™ Q160. The PLATINUM™ Q160 is super easy to learn, easy to use, doesn’t require a lot of space, and makes free motion quilting fun!
I hope you make an appointment with your local Husqvarna Viking dealer to take this stationary quilting machine for a test run and be sure to try out the optional accessory feet. You won’t be sorry!
Have a great day!
Ciao!!