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Although Free Motion Quilting is a topic reserved for the end of the quilt making process, I thought I would talk about it now.

There may be some of you that are ready for this topic, so here we go. Depending on your sewing machine manufacturer, you may have a few free motion presser foot options. I am a Bernina owner, so I will be sharing Bernina free motion presser feet. Your free motion presser foot options may be different.

Remember, please purchase the presser feet that have been manufactured for your machine. Generic feet often don’t fit and, if they do, can lead to machine repairs.

Types of Free Motion Presser Feet to Set You Up For Success

The number of feet available to you will depend on your machine’s manufacturer. There should be at least one foot available for free motion quilting and/or embroidery. There may also be a darning foot which could also be used for free motion quilting.

Types of Free Motion Feet

Embroidery Foot

Closed free motion embroidery foot. The foot is silver and oriented from the left. The words embroidery foot are written. The background is white with a diamond shaped pattern. In the bottom right hand corner is the logo for the Off Kilter Quilter. The logo is a magenta circle on top of a teal square. The words The Off Kilter Quilter are visible in white and black.

A closed Embroidery Foot like the one in the photo can also be used for free motion quilting. You can easily see your field of stitching and threads won’t get tangled.

Freehand Embroidery Foot

a silver free hand embroidery foot is positioned from the left. It is an open foot with a semi circle shape. The words Freehand Embroidery Foot are written. There is a white background with a sewn diamond pattern

The Freehand Embroidery Foot gives you the ability to clearly see where you are sewing.

Drop Shaped Embroidery Foot

A silver drop shaped embroidery foot facing from the left. The foot has a circular shape with an open space for the needle to sew. The words drop shaped embroidery foot are written. There is a white background with a diamond shape pattern

The Drop Shaped Embroidery Foot is a common embroidery foot packaged with many sewing machines. As you can see, there is far less visualization of the sewing area as compared to the Embroidery Foot or Freehand Embroidery Foot.

Darning Foot

A silver darning foot position from the left side. The foot is a circle with a wide sewing space allowing better visualization. The words darning foot are written. There is a white background with a diamond pattern

A Darning Foot can easily be substituted for free motion quilting if you don’t have an Embroidery Foot. It offers more visualization compared to the Drop Shaped Embroidery Foot.

My Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are a few presser foot options you can use for free motion quilting. It really comes down to personal preference and which one you like the best. You only need one foot for free motion quilting, unless you want to try a few. For me, my go to free motion foot is the Freehand Embroidery Foot, simply because I like to see where I’m sewing.

Click here to get my Free Guide, The Top 5 Tools Every Beginner Quilter Needs now. New quilters don’t need a lot of tools to get started, and I don’t want you to end up with a drawer full of rulers or notions that you only use once. So grab your freebie and let’s get quilting.

So grab your freebie and let’s get quilting.

I hope you have found this helpful. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email me here.

For more helpful quilting tips and tricks, make sure you follow me on YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Until Next Time,

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