A presser foot is an attachment used with

sewing machine Diagram of a modern sewing machine Animation of a modern sewing machine as it stitches A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolutio ...

s to hold fabric flat as it is fed through the machine and stitched. Sewing machines have

feed dogs A feed dog is a movable plate which pulls fabric through a sewing machine in discrete steps between stitches. Action A set of feed dogs typically resembles two or three short, thin metal bars, crosscut with diagonal teeth, which move both fro ...

in the bed of the machine to provide traction and move the fabric as it is fed through the machine, while the sewer provides extra support for the fabric by guiding it with one hand. A presser foot keeps the fabric flat so that it does not rise and fall with the needle and pucker as it is stitched. When especially thick workpieces are to be sewn, such as quilts, a specialized attachment called a walking foot is often used rather than a presser foot. Presser feet are typically spring-hinged to provide some flexibility as the workpiece moves beneath it. Presser feet have two toes, one to hold the fabric down on either side of the needle.

Types of presser feet

Shank

Different manufacturers have produced machines with one of three types of presser foot shank in mind. These are the ''low shank'', ''high shank'', and the ''slant shank'' presser foot. A low shank presser foot has a distance from the bottom of the foot to the center of the thumbscrew; a high shank foot has a distance; a slant shank foot is distinctly slanted. The kind of foot a given machine requires is not interchangeable: a low-shank machine will only accept a low shank presser foot, and a high shank machine only a high-shank presser foot, though within these categories any low shank or high shank foot will fit any corresponding low shank or high shank machine; exceptionally, a slant shank foot can ''only'' be used with a

Singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

slant needle machine and no other (likewise, such a machine can accept no other kind of foot).

Feet

The most commonly used presser feet are the ''all-purpose'' foot and the ''zipper'' foot, which come standard with most household machines. However, an array of specialized feet have also been designed for a number of uses. Among these are the following: *binding foot, used to sew a long folded narrow strip of fabric that is wrapped around the edge of the workpiece *blind hem foot *button-attaching foot *buttonhole foot *

darning Darning is a sewing technique for repairing holes or worn areas in textile, fabric or knitting using sewing needle, needle and sewing thread, thread alone. It is often done by hand, but using a sewing machine is also possible. Hand darning emp ...

foot *fringe foot *gathering foot *invisible zipper foot *narrow

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

foot called as well a rolled hem foot (comes in different sizes measured in mm of the hem) *open-toe foot * overedge/overcast foot *pintuck foot (comes in different sizes measured in the number of grooves) *

piping Within industry, piping is a system of pipes used to convey fluids (liquids and gases) from one location to another. The engineering discipline of piping design studies the efficient transport of fluid. Industrial process piping (and accomp ...

/ cording foot *quarter-inch seam foot (6mm) *quilting quarter-inch seam foot *roller foot *

satin stitch In sewing and embroidery, a satin stitch or damask stitch is a series of flat stitches that are used to completely cover a section of the background fabric. Narrow rows of satin stitch can be executed on a standard sewing machine using a zigzag ...

or decorative stitch foot *straight-stitch foot *tape attaching foot used for narrow ribbons, rick-rack, etc. Most presser feet are made of steel or clear plastic; however, presser feet made of Teflon or other non-stick material are used for sewing with leather, plastic, vinyl and oilcloth.

References

{{sewing Sewing machines