In Praise of the Dual Feed

One of the features of the Bernina 830 that I underestimated is the dual feed. I've often wished I could switch out the feet on my walking foot, and the dual feed foot essentially does that. Only a handful of feet are available for use with the dual feed, but they are enough to make me very happy. There are more, but so far I have the edge stitch foot, jean foot, 1/4" patchwork foot with guide and the standard foot that came with the machine. The dual feed makes everything easier, whether it's matching a design, quilting charmeuse to boucle, or stitching seams on a stretch knit.

Below are a couple of shots of the 1D foot.

In the first photo you can see the "arm" that slips between the legs of the foot:

And here you can see the mechanism behind the foot: the whole thing swings down for use and back up and out of the way when you don't need it:

 

This is the beginning of re-purpose project. I've taken apart a coat of my aunt's from the 60's to make a Chanel style jacket. Can't wait to finish it and for it to cool off enough for me to wear it!

Happy Sewing,

Juliette

Bernina 830 Dual Feed

Yesterday was my second full day with my new 830LE. I don't have any photos I can share since I was finishing up two challenge entries and cannot post any photos until after the judging has been done.
I did start on a pair of jeans, and will post photos when they're done.

I used the dual feed for the first time yesterday, and anyone who has worked on stretch denim will appreciate this feature. If you aren't familiar with dual feed, it is essentially a built-in walking foot. You need to use special feet (D) since the dual feed pops down right behind the needle. Yeah, I know, more feet and Bernina feet are so expensive, but hey, they work really, really well, and most dealers have regular sales, so you can save if you plan well. Sure the feet for my older Elna were a fraction of the cost, but they didn't work anywhere near as well. It always took 2 passes to insert an invisible zipper, and I could never get a rolled hem right. This just isn't the case with my Berninas.
The 830 does come with 2 dual feed feet, 1D and 4D(zipper foot) and I purchased the D version of my favorite foot, the 10D, edge stitch.
I ended up using the dual feed for most of the sewing on these jeans since it really helped minimize distortion when edge and top stitching, and even seemed to help on the seams.
The machine was a little fussy with jean thread in the needle, but slowed down and was careful when starting seams, and we got along fine.

I embroidered the pockets, and though I think I've already mentioned it, the auto-stop when a thread breaks is really nice. My 730E just keeps going for a bit, so I always have to roll back to where the thread broke. The speed control on the front of the machine is nice, too.

My dear friend Mimi is coming over today to work on a table cloth, so I'll have more to report later today.

Happy Sewing!
Juliette