Lost in the jumble? Here’s how to organize your sewing machine accessories

I’m so excited to be back! I’m looking forward to chatting about two of my favorite things – sewing machine accessories and organizing.

I’ll be using the Husqvarna Viking Opal 670 for the sewing this week. To get more details on this fabulous sewing machine, check out my previous week of blog posts.

Let’s face it – it’s easy to get excited about accessories for our sewing machines, and I love walking into my dealer and scouring the accessories board to see what I’m missing.

Then we get those accessories home, and where do they end up? Some people are very diligent and have a system for organizing them, but sometimes, they end up like this.

Or here.

Neither of those options is good. If my feet are in that drawer and I need to find a specific one, I must empty the drawer and go through all the feet. Since we’re in a rush most times, even though this is our hobby and we should be relaxed, we often are not! At least all the accessory feet are in their original packaging, so it’s easy to identify which foot is which.

The second option isn’t great either. It’s a smaller container, but the original packaging is gone. However, when I went through the container, I realized that most of those feet are the standard accessory feet that come with the sewing machines. Shhh – I have a few Husqvarna Viking sewing machines, and I don’t usually keep any of the feet with the sewing machines. Why? I’ve no idea – just a habit I developed a few years back.

I found a few of the Utility Foot A in that plastic box.

OH – if each of those feet represents a sewing machine – NO – I’m sure I’ve purchased one or two extra ones along the way. I’m sure!

The evolution of a presser foot

Did you notice the two presser feet in the front are slightly different from the ones in the back row? There are no markings on the feet, and one of them is narrower than the others.

Like everything else, changes occur over time – thanks to feedback from users and consumers like us. Notice the addition of the red markings that can act as guides for various sewing techniques.

Here’s something else you may not know about presser feet. Depending on the maximum stitch width for your Husqvarna Viking sewing machine, the presser feet are different widths. My first sewing machine had a maximum stitch width of 6mm, and now the maximum is 9mm. It doesn’t sound like much, but that’s a huge difference.

The Utility Foot A on the left is a 6mm foot, designed for my first Husqvarna Viking sewing machine I bought many years ago. The Utility Foot A in the middle is for 7mm sewing machines, and the one on the right is for the 9mm machines. In this case, it’s for the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2, which has a cutout in the back for the Integrated Dual Feed system.

If you have sewing machines with different width presser feet, it’s a good idea to sort the presser feet by size and label them. It’s OK to use a 7mm foot on a 6mm machine, not so great if you use a 6mm foot on a 7mm sewing machine and try to stitch at the maximum width. You’ll end up with a broken needle or worse!

Thankfully, there’s a pop-up message on the Designer EPIC 2 reminding you to check the stitch width if you are using a narrower presser foot.

The other concern is how the presser foot engages with the feed teeth. The presser feet and the feed teeth work together to feed the fabric. If the presser foot width doesn’t match the feed teeth, you’ll get very uneven feeding, resulting in poor quality seams.

Look what happens when I put one of the earlier ¼” piecing feet on the Designer EPIC 2. The presser foot is so narrow it doesn’t even touch the feed teeth. You’d get very uneven feeding with this setup.

However, if I put the 9mm Quilter’s ¼” Piecing Foot P on the Designer EPIC 2, the presser foot fully engages with the feed teeth for an even feed while sewing.

Look what happens when I take the 6mm ¼” piecing foot and put it on the Opal 670. It doesn’t give me good coverage with the feed teeth, which would not provide good feeding.

When I attach the 7mm Quilter’s ¼” Piecing Foot P, the foot covers the feed teeth, and the feeding will be perfect.

Use the Accessories User’s Guide as a resource

If you’re like me, you’ve accumulated a lot of accessories and presser feet over the years, yet you don’t use them as often as you should, or you have no idea what they are or how to use them. Sometimes, we forget why we purchased them, or we’ve forgotten how to use them.

Here’s an invaluable resource for you.

It’s the Accessories User’s Guide. I have a hard copy of the guide, which isn’t easy to get. However, you can download a PDF version of it for free.

This guide is like a bible to me, and I use it all the time. Not only does it list all the accessories for the Husqvarna Viking sewing machines and sergers, but there’s also a hoop compatibility guide for each of the embroidery machines. You’ll find diagrams and instructions on using the various presser feet or accessories.

I mean, it doesn’t get better than this. You’ll find the name of each presser foot, its purpose, a photo of the presser foot in action, and instructions on how to use the presser foot. The part number is listed, and there’s a series of circled numbers, which I’ll explain in a minute.

Not only is this guide valuable for identifying our presser feet, but the tool is a good learning resource. While hands-on classes at your dealer are worth taking, there’s a lot of educational material in this free guide!

It’s a great idea to go through all your presser feet, find it in the User’s Accessory Guide and then do some samples – more on that tomorrow. I’m guilty of buying a new presser foot and felt I now knew how to use it because I’d purchased it!

HA – I soon learned that’s not the case. I have to open the package, get some sample fabric, and try it out. I’ll make many mistakes, and only then can I call myself competent with the presser foot! So, keep that thought in mind – you know where I’m going with this.

OK – so back to those little circles – what the heck do they mean? They’re there to help you buy the correct presser feet for your sewing machine!

Inside the front of the User’s Accessory Guide is a chart of all the Husqvarna Viking sewing machines, which fall into nine groups, depending on the technology associated with that grouping. Things like the maximum stitch width, the width of the feed teeth, Integrated Dual Feed, and so on.

If I scan the list, I find the Opal 670 right at the bottom, so I know any accessory with a 6 in the circle is appropriate for the Opal 670. Now it’s so easy to get the right accessories.

Category 9 is for the Designer EPIC 2, a 9mm sewing machine, so the presser feet are wider and have the cutout in the back to work with the Integrated Dual Feed system (if applicable).

This information will help you sort through all your sewing machine feet if you have multiple machines.

If your presser feet are still in the packages, you’ll see the name in multiple languages, part numbers, and sewing machine groups in the little circles.

The back of the packaging has several pictures you’ll also find in the User’s Accessory Guide or online. If you’ve sewn for a while, this may be all the information you need to use it, while others may want all the details in the guide.

Back to storage

So, how should one store their sewing machine feet? One way is to use the accessory tote you can purchase through your local dealer.

Inside are many zippered pockets, which greatly help sort and store those presser feet. The pockets are large enough to hold the labels in the packages, or you can use a labeler and add your labels.

I’m in the process of sorting all my presser feet that come as part of the accessory kit for the various Husqvarna Viking sewing machines I own. I have all my Utility Feet A in one pocket, all the B in another, and so on. I have some small plastic bags, and I’ll put the various sizes in a baggie and then put that category in one zippered pouch. You can purchase extra pages for the zippered tote!

However you decide to sort your presser feet, this accessory tote will be convenient! Now, why haven’t I used this before?

Should I need to go to class, I’ll grab the feet I need for the machine I’m taking, and I’ll be good. The rest of the feet can stay home in the tote.

The new presser feet have the stitch width engraved on them. While it’s possible to tell the different widths apart, this helps to keep things under control.

So, you know what I’m going to say next – you have work to do! If you don’t have a copy of the User’s Accessory Guide, you need to go and get it.

Then dig out all your presser feet. Are they organized? If not, then you have a job to do. If they are, you can go through the guide to see which ones you’re missing. Make a list so you can avoid buying duplicates the next time you’re shopping.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at a couple of the presser feet and learn how to make better use of them.

Be sure to check out the Husqvarna Viking Opal 670 or the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 while you’re at the dealer. They each have a place in your studio!

On that note, have a great day!

Ciao!

This is part 1 of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: Piping vs welting – What’s the difference? Which presser foot works best?