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How to use the Singercraft Guide on Any Machine

Janome sewing machine

For my sample I used this Janome sewing/embroidery machine from the early 1990’s

You don’t need a vintage Singer sewing machine to use the Singercraft Guide because it doesn’t fit onto the machine in any way.

However, if you are making rugs with the guide, you may need to use a particular foot for your machine so that the rows can be sewn close together more easily.

Sewing machine feet If you compare the standard foot from a vintage Singer machine (left) to the standard foot that comes with most modern sewing machines (right) you will notice that the Singer foot is nowhere near as wide as the modern foot.

The distance from the needle to the edge of the Singer foot is only half of the distance from the needle to the edge of the modern foot. In this case, the modern foot is a Janome foot.

Singercraft sample Depending on the thickness of your yarn and how close you are stitching your rows together when making a pile fabric, a modern all-purpose foot may sit on a slant after you work a few rows and it might not feed properly under your machine.

If your machine has an option to stitch with the needle on the left of the foot you might want to try stitching with the needle in this position.

In my sample I used Aussie 4 ply cotton (US fingering weight) with the row of stitching directly next to the edge of the previous row. Sewing with the all purpose foot with the needle in the centre position became awkward after I stitched 6 rows of pile.

Sewing machine footSewing machine foot If your machine doesn’t have the option to move the needle to the left, I have found that an adjustable zipper foot like the ones shown on the left are the best feet to use.

Adjust the foot so that your needle comes down on the left hand side and you won’t have a problem with placing your rows of fringe close together to form a nice thick pile.

Also, if you are using a hairpin lace fork instead of a Singercraft Guide you can adjust the needle to sit on the right hand side of the foot and you will be able to sew as close to the fork as possible without hitting it.


Copyright Sarah Bradberry, June 17th 2010. All rights reserved.