Sometimes the unthinkable happens.

You go out to the store and find the perfect batting and matching threads. You spend all day after crawling on the ground to baste your quilt together, you stand up, crack your back, and head to the sewing machine excited to start quilting. 

You go to set up your sewing machine grabbing your trusty walking foot, and begin to install the foot when you realize, its broken! 

You did all that work just to have to wait for a new walking foot before you can start?! 

Whether the arm that holds it to the machine broke off in the drawer, or the presser feet are no longer attached to the foot, there are a few different ways you can find yourself with a broken walking foot. 

But sometimes our patience gets the best of us and we are dying to get started. 

“There’s got to be a way around this so I can still start quilting today. What can I use instead?”

For those devastating moments when you need a work around, today’s post is all about walking foot alternatives so you can get that quilt finished!

Quilting Foot vs. Walking Foot – What’s the Difference

For a short and sweet answer, there is no difference. 

Although there are different presser feet that you can use to quilt with, the walking foot is by far the most commonly used which led to it getting the generic name “Quilting Foot”. 

Walking foot is going to be a more accurate description of the presser foot if you walked into a retail store looking to buy one, however many experienced quilters will also understand what you are referring to by calling it a quilting foot as well. 

Why a Walking Foot is a Good Investment

If you are here because you are asking yourself “Are walking feet really worth it? Why can’t I just use my regular foot?” Then this next section is for you. 

I’ll be the first person to tell you that not every notion you happen across is worth your time of day.

Some notions are redundant, or only marginally make a process easier, there are definitely many “fluff” options on the market. 

Walking foots just aren’t one of them.

For the $13-ish you might pay for one, you will inevitably find yourself using it multiple times on every quilt you make and you WILL get your money out of it. 

A walking foot has a set of feed dogs on the top to help evenly feed your thick quilt through the machine keeping your layers preserved as much as possible to avoid shifting. 

The double feed dogs also help in keeping your stitches perfectly consistent and beautiful giving you a much cleaner and professional quilting job. 

There just aren’t any walking foot alternatives on the market that can do this very basic function so this particular notion is at the very top of the list of notions to invest in (if your machine didn’t already come with one). 

I totally get that quilting is one of those hobbies that can quickly blow a budget out of proportion (just THINK of all the fabric you could buy!) but (long term) a walking foot is essential to get the cleanest quilting job as a beginner. 

Its the Best Option for Straight Line Quilting and Stitching in the Ditch

One of the easiest beginner machine quilting designs is straight lines that run the full length of the quilt. 

Its quick, simple, and always looks great. But without a walking foot, you are going to find that quilting straight lines cleanly can actually become quite difficult. 

As straight line and stitch in the ditch quilting are by far the most common (and forgiving) quilting motifs for beginners it would be better to bypass all other presser feet when getting started, and instead prioritize the piecing foot and the walking foot. 

All other fancy presser feet can wait. 

A walking foot has attachments to save you time

Walking foots have quilting guides that you can purchase to allow you to echo lines without marking. 

They’ll help keep your spacing consistent between lines without even thinking about it. Just get your first line stitched straight and you’re off and running. 

These types of attachments can save you hours of being hunched over your quilt to mark your straight or echo lines. 

Other walking foot alternatives just don’t have the attachment functionality and if straight lines are your goto, you’ll quickly understand how beneficial the feature is. 

Binding a Quilt is Much Easier

Binding a quilt is going to be the time where you have the most amount of fabric under your sewing machine. 

Since regular presser feet sit much lower to the deck of the sewing machine, when you are binding you’ll find that a regular presser foot squishes the quilt sandwich out from under the presser foot one way or the other. 

Usually you’ll find yourself fighting to keep the presser foot from falling off the edge of the binding.

You’ll also find the binding slipping off the edge of the quilt as you sew making a 1/4” seam allowance tough to maintain. 

With a walking foot, you won’t have half as many issues because it sits higher off the sewing machine deck designed with the expectation that there will be more fabric layers to work through.

Feeding your quilt and your binding through evenly from both sides, you’ll have a much easier time accomplishing the task. 

The moral of the story is, if you are looking for ways to get around having to buy a walking foot entirely, I’m here to tell you that a walking foot is not the tool you want to get frugal with. 

However there are times when you are in the middle of a quilt and your walking foot breaks! 

I’ve been there, it sucks. 

And if you’re like me, you are too excited to keep quilting, and you need a fix now. 

So now that you know that I am pro walking foot on a long term basis, let’s talk about how to get around not having a walking foot when you are in a pinch. 

Can you Machine Quilt with a Regular Foot?

Technically, yes. There is nothing stopping you from top stitching with a regular piecing foot. 

The catch is that the foot rides much lower to the deck of the sewing machine squishing your layers, which is prone to causing pleats. 

A regular presser foot is designed to only expect two layers of fabric which is much thinner than a regular quilt sandwich. 

This means your presser foot is likely to add too much pressure causing your top layer to shift across your quilt, eventually folding a pleat over if you aren’t careful. 

Are pleats guaranteed? Not necessarily. There are a few things you can do to reduce your chances of pleating (although sometimes it’s just unavoidable).

Double Baste

I’m not sure if this is really a quilting term, I’ve never heard it used before. But when I was stuck with a broken walking foot and in a pinch, it definitely helped me. 

I am typically a devout spray baster. I always find my spray basting job comes out far more consistent than any pin basting job I do with less bunching and pleating of the backing. 

However, without a walking foot and doing long straight lines across a quilt, you will likely find things shifting especially the longer it takes you to get the quilt quilted.

The more days that go by, the less that basting will hold for you. Especially as you are pushing, pulling, crumpling, and folding the quilt.

To try and maintain the baste as long as possible, try ironing both sides of the un-quilted sections of your quilt to lock in the basting spray between the layers. The heat will get the spray tacky again and re-adhere every inch.

Once that’s completed, pin baste on top of it.

The pins will keep the overall top in places while the spray basting will help keep the localized areas between pins secure. 

Does it seem like overkill? Sure does. 

But where you are exposing yourself to a much higher risk of your layers shifting, every little bit helps. 

Go ahead and start quilting and just be hyper aware of how your layers are handling the regular presser foot. Be prepared to work in the bulk in a few places and go slower than usual. 

It’s not ideal, and certainly not the most efficient way to straight line quilt, but in a pinch, it’ll work. 

The Best Walking Foot Alternatives

The best of the walking foot alternatives by far is to free motion quilt the straight lines instead. 

Now bear with me, I know free motion quilting is not always the preferred option, ESPECIALLY if the go to design is a straight line quilting the full length of the quilt.

But when we put so much effort into piecing the top and run into an issue like a broken walking foot, knowing all the options helps. 

So why free motion quilting? 

All of those issues you are almost guaranteed to see with a regular presser foot go away with free motion quilting because the foot is made to do the same job as a walking foot. 

The foot rides higher off the deck of the sewing machine because it’s made to handle the extra layers of the quilt. 

That means you don’t have to take the time to double and over baste, you don’t have to hurt your eyes paying super close attention to your layers, and you are more likely to get a cleaner finish with less frustration. 

The only catch to using a free motion quilting foot is that you have to control the direction and speed of the quilt getting fed through the machine which can be a little tricky to get the hang of if you are just starting out.

Related:
FMQ, how to get started and master it fast
7 Hacks to Better Free Motion Quilting
7 Free Motion Quilting Myths Stopping You From Getting Started

Can I Stitch in the Ditch Without a Walking Foot?

Stitching in the ditch around patches of your quilt is a common simple quilting plan that always looks nice and gets the job done. Using your free motion quilting foot could arguably be a better option for stitching in the ditch normally, even with a working walking foot. 

You can simply work your way around a block quilting your straight lines in every direction without ever pushing your quilt through the throat the the machine allowing you to move on to the next block sooner. 

Using your free motion foot to stitch in the ditch will allow you to move in all directions around your patches without having to wrestle with rotating the quilt as you move.

After getting the hang of the free motion aspect, you may find that your free motion foot is no longer a walking foot alternative, but actually your primary choice for many stitching in the ditch situations.

But I don’t want to do custom free motion quilting

If stitching long straight lines with your free motion foot does not sound like your idea of a good time, but you still want something quick and easy like a standard walking foot straight line quilting, then don’t fret you still have options.

Using a pantograph design with your free motion quilting foot is a great way to get around not having to do long straight lines, while still having a quick and easy quilting plan.

Related: How to quilt pantographs on your home sewing machine

To make the best of these walking foot alternatives, choose a geometric design with short straight lines that work their way across the quilt in rows. The designs will be more forgiving with alternative presser foot options and you’ll actually find it even faster than traditional straight line quilting because you won’t be quilting as densely.

Interested in giving pantograph quilting a try? Click here to grab a FREE machine quilting pantograph template to try on your next quilt!