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The perfect free-motion foot and a WIP
Whatsa WIP you ask? A Work-In-Progress! In this case, one for Janome-America. I have been incredibly fortunate to be associated with Janome since late 1983. Usually as part of the artist/teacher program, you lend Janome things, but this time I decided I would make something to give them: a quilted banner for their new Artistic line (longarms, software, embroidery, etc…..see all about it here). I enlarged the logo from their brochure, then transferred that to some white fabric and have begun quilting.
In preparation for this project, I bought a second “convertible free-motion presser foot set” for the Janome 7700 I use for my quilting (one of these lovelies is included with the machine–since Janome owns the one I’m using I didn’t want to cut apart *their* presser foot!). 
The set comes with three interchangeable “feet”: the disc (for echo quilting), the closed circle (shown attached to the presser foot deely-bob on the left), and the U-shaped open-toe. The two metal feet are my favorite, but when I videotaped myself quilting recently (in hopes of having a “why do I need this? how would I use these?” video on here before too long that I can share here), I tried the disc for the first time and think that I will definitely use it now!
Anyway, the two metal feet are close but not quite perfect–what I wanted was a round circle with a small opening so I could see where I’m going (as with the U-shaped foot) but that would *also* let me echo quilt without having to change the end. So I took my trusty Dremel tool to the front of the circle and removed a scant 1/8″ segment!
My new and improved free-motion quilting foot
I LOVE IT! It did just what I want… I can see where I am going, but I can also echo-quilt around those feathers you see in the photo above with ease. YEAH!
And a teaser…here is what I’ve done so far… I used red thread and a triple-straight stretch stitch (and the open-toe accufeed foot) to machine quilt/outline the lettering. I then free-motion quilted the flowers using a single line of red thread. I want the background quilting to be subtle, but seen, so I quilted some feathers using a soft peach color. For the feathers, I marked the spine with blue pen, then stitched the spine followed by the feathers.
W.I.P. made for Janome-America, with thanks for their support these past 8-plus years!
Next, using a wash-out blue pen, I marked curved lines randomly but with thought and an eye to design and the shapes created. I like to separate areas of the background into smaller, more manageable “chunks” and alternate linear and curved designs from one to the next. I also marked an outline around the lettering. I began the background quilting using a fine 50-wt So Fine matte-finish polyester thread in white and a very small stipple around the lettering to make the letters “pop.” Then I did one or two small sections, one with a cross-hatch/plaid, another with a sinuous vine.
The next question is: do I paint inside the lines of the letters and at the appropriate spots on the flower? The thing is…. the color on the logo is a slightly orange-ish red.
To paint or not to paint????
I like the orange colors just fine, but they don’t match the logo. The Inktense pencil (on the right, numbered) didn’t work so well for what I want to do. That means the acrylic inks (used for all the other color) are the way to do. BUT, the red looks kinda like blood on cloth. ERK. The large upper rectangle and the two smaller blotches in the center are the most accurate for color-matching, but look most like blood. The “really red” long rectangle on the bottom looks OK, but is the “Janome” logo color, not the color of the Artistic logo. So do I color it in? or leave it be? If I color it, do I take creative license and use an orange? Think I’ll run this one by my contact BEFORE I add paint…. I’d hate to spend umpteen hours quilting and then have it not work because of a wrong color choice! Stay tuned… I’ll share again when the blue is washed down the drain and it is all finished and pretty!
June 13th, 2012 at 1:18 am
I had the same problem so I bought a free motion embroidery foot which is working well for me. Maybe I will try what you did because I love the way the convertible foot works.
June 13th, 2012 at 7:24 am
Great info – love to see your WIP. I got the 7700 in mid-May, and just started working with the free motion on Monday. Love the way it sews, once you get the tension right.
June 13th, 2012 at 8:33 am
Ah, the agonies of decision making! Can the acrylic inks be blended to get the color you want
or have you already tried that and been dissatisfied? Maybe when you do the other stitching the red-orange won’t look so bloody stark against the white.