Can't Live Without...

I learned about a walking foot years ago and a few years after that I bought myself one! What's a walking foot, you may wonder?? Normally, those "grippy things" under the presser foot (they are called "feed dogs", thank you 7th grade Home Ec!) move the fabric along as you sew. But if your fabric is particularly bulky, sometimes the bottom fabric ends up moving along at a different pace than the top fabric. This means when you get to the end of the seam you're sewing, your two fabrics may not be lined up perfectly. The walking foot works by having it's own set of feed dogs. As your machine needle moves up and down, a lever which clips to the needle bar lets the walking foot's feed dogs move/walk along the fabric, hence the name walking foot. The fabric is therefore evenly fed through your machine. (courtesy of thesewingdirectory.co.uk) Why is this helpful when making wallets? In the second picture you can get an idea of all the layers that need to be sewn through during assembly. In this wallet (not counting interfacing) there are at least 10 layers of fabric! That's ridiculous. It also makes turning these little buggers incredibly challenging at times!

My dad always says that having the right tool for the job makes all the difference in the world! Whether it's construction or sewing (incidentally, he can do both!) he's right!

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