After reading some positive comments here as well as receiving a suggestion from a local acquaintance who sews a lot of costumes and quilts, I purchased a walking foot on Friday…a universal $15 version. I haven't used it much but from what I've experienced thus far with silnylon and regular nylon, I'm disappointed. I switched back and forth between the walking foot and regular foot and could detect nothing but disadvantages. The walking foot makes it more of a challenge to get the material under the foot and it takes more power from the machine to get the machine going and keep it going. It felt as though I was riding the brakes all the time….or was dragging an anchor.
Were my expectations too high or does the walking foot shine in applications I have yet to test (fleece for instance)? Or, perhaps they work better on more powerful machines…or maybe the walking foot I got is of poor quality and or design? Or maybe a walking foot works best for things outside the realm of the typical MYOGer such as quilting?
