Two sewing machine presser feet to get fast, professional looking results

It’s the end of the week! I still have so much to share with you. Those ideas will just have to wait until next time. So many plans, so little time!

I’ve had loads of fun with the Husqvarna Viking Brilliance 75Q. It’s truly a dream machine to work on with many great features that’ll make your sewing projects super easy and very professional looking.

Today, I wanted to show you a couple of presser feet that make quick work of inserting a zipper and some stitch in the ditch quilting.

For those of you who know me, I’m not the best at finishing projects. Today, while I show you those two presser feet, I’m advancing a project – I don’t think I quite have time to finish it. This Soft Cover by Inspira has embroidered designs on it. You can check out the embroidery designs in this link.

When I dug out the project box, I saw that all of the embroideries were completed, the pieces were prepped and now the cover just needs to be assembled.

There are several reasons why you want to finish your project before you move onto the next one. More than likely, unless you left yourself good notes, it’ll take a while to get back in the groove of the project instructions. Yep – that happened to me.

The second reason? You’d be surprised at how many tools and supplies accumulate in that project basket. Now, what if I had of been looking for that spool cap and the elastic threader? As a matter of fact, I think I was looking for that spool cap. I did borrow from another machine, but I shouldn’t be doing that!

Why did the sewing machine cover get abandoned? I needed a zipper for the top of the cover. I had tried to source the zipper locally, but I couldn’t find the type of zipper that I wanted. I ended up ordering one. Actually what I ordered was zipper tape, with 8 slides so I could make my own zipper. I wanted a double slide zipper and the easiest way was to make one since I couldn’t find a navy blue one anywhere.

Of course, I procrastinated on making the zipper because I thought it was hard. Well, once I set my mind to it, it wasn’t hard at all. In 15 minutes, I had my very own two-way, navy blue zipper.

Now I’m back in business.

I’m using a slightly different zipper than what was called for in the pattern. Yep – that’s another reason why things get put on hold. I have to make up my own instructions as I go! Well, it’s time to get this done. Using my rotary cutter, I sliced an opening through the center of the cover. Note that I didn’t cut the cover in half, just long enough to insert my zipper.

I turned back a small seam allowance and placed the zipper beneath the cover and pinned it in place.

I attached the Narrow Zipper Foot to the Brilliance 75Q. Before I started to sew, I used the Exclusive Sewing Advisor to set the machine to Woven Heavy and the appropriate settings for the tension and stitch length were set for me. This is just fabulous. I let the Sewing Advisor do all the “thinking” part and I get to do the creative part!!!!

My zipper slides were located in the center of the zipper. I did try to sneak past on one side, but the slides really need to be moved out of the way when you’re stitching. Just makes for a straighter stitch.

Just recently, I’ve been asked on several occasions as to which side of the zipper should the zipper foot be situated on? You can see in the photo below that the zipper foot is NOT sitting on the zipper. Zipper feet can be positioned on the left or the right of the needle depending on what you’re sewing. The job of the zipper foot is to hold down the fabric so always position the zipper foot onto the fabric, never the zipper.

Don’t forget that depending on what you’re sewing, you can use the Stitch Positioning function that we discussed yesterday. There might be some trim or a seam that makes it necessary to move the needle position. Be careful as you don’t want to stitch onto the foot – make sure the foot is attached before you do any Stitch Positioning.

Yes – if you had an eagle eye, you’ll note that my pins weren’t in the best position for sewing the zipper. The pins should have been inserted the opposite way to make it easier to remove them!

While I turned the seams under on the sides of the zipper, I left the ends raw. A small triangle of fabric is used to decorate and finish off the end and provide the zipper stop. The pattern calls for a small triangle folded in half.

When I started to lay the triangle out on my sewing machine cover, I got an idea. Hey – what about using my satin stitch knowledge from two days ago to integrate the stitching with the embroidery?

I started off by stitching around the triangle of fabric with a straight stitch to ensure that it stayed in the right spot. Then I used a 40-weight gold thread that matched the embroidery thread and set up the Brilliance 75Q for a wide satin stitch. Actually, I started part way along as I was going to satin stitch all three sides. Then as I was working I changed my mind. There’s a wee blip on one side as I went back to finish off the side.

As I neared the 90-degree corner at the left, I was able to do a 90-degree pivot which was easy with the Sensor Foot Down and Pivot. When I got down to the more pointed corners, I manually tapered the stitch width. The main part of the stitch has a width of 5.0. I dropped the stitch width down by increments of .5 and stitched one or two stitches, and continued to decrease the stitch width until the width of my satin stitch matched the width of the machine embroidery. A few stitches over the machine embroidery and I LOVE how this looks.

It was super easy to duplicate on the other side and my little decorative zipper stops are DONE. Simple tools on the Brilliance 75Q, but here’s a great example of using the tools and my creativity to find an excellent solution.

The next step was to prep the outer pockets which involved a trim along the top of all four pockets. I had the choice of topstitching the lining in place or stitch in the ditch. I chose to do the stitch in the ditch.

Hm – I was going to stitch in the ditch with gold thread right beside the green fabric. I didn’t want any of the gold thread to show on the green fabric. No problem. I dug out the Edge/Joining Foot and snapped it on the sewing machine. I put my gold thread in the top.

Then I evaluated the situation. Hmm – if I run the flange right alongside my seam, there’ll be a wee bit of a gap. I don’t want that.

The photo above shows the needle position after it was adjusted. Yep – back to the Stitch Positioning. I only had to move the needle one position and that was enough to give me a perfectly aligned line of stitching right in the ditch of the seam allowance.

When you’re using a straight stitch, there are 29 needle positions to choose from. You can see in the photo below, that I’ve selected the ALT function. Now the stitch width becomes the needle position control. The default is 0.0 and I’ve got it set for .3.  The 0.3 is in red telling me that I’m no longer in the default position.

I have to admit that I stitched those lines of Stitch in the Ditch rather quickly. Not ONCE, not a single thread of gold shows on the green. Holy!!!!!  I love that. There are lots of other uses for the Edge/Joining foot. In my case, the foot worked like a charm and sped up the process and not a single mistake. Who doesn’t want a professional finish like this?

The rest of the cover doesn’t require any special sewing techniques. Straight seams with a curve or two thrown in. I’ll get it completed and show you the next time I’m blogging about the Brilliance 75Q.  It’ll look gorgeous in my studio as it keeps the dust off of one sewing machine and brightens up the studio at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed the week with the Husqvarna Viking Brilliance 75Q. So many great features – so little time to explore them all.

If you’re in the market for a sewing machine with loads of features, I’d give this one some serious thought. Take it for a test drive – do some samples. You’ll be amazed at all the techniques that you can do with it and you’ll be very pleased with the professional results.

Thanks for following along!

Have a great day!

Ciao!