Monday, January 11, 2010

Hands or Feet?

Have you ever used the BSR on a Bernina? I have an 830 and have played with it now and then and have not yet found my rhythm. Some folks say if you are good at free motion quilting then it isn't really helpful. Others love it for the speed control and stitch length regulation, no matter how fast or slow they go.

I do quite a bit of free motion quilting, so this weekend, I decided to play. I spent an hour or so using the BSR with the foot pedal and another couple of hours using my hands to control the speed. You know, I like the fact that I only have to think about my hands, but I find that when I need to move my hands I am just not coordinated enough (yet :-)) not to cause a noticeable stop/start in my quilting. I think that when I use the foot peddle my mind already knows to slow the machine down so I can use my hands... hey it is what I have been doing for years.

Yes, I know like anything else, I will have to play with it a bit more to get comfortable. I am just looking for any pointers or thoughts you might feel comfortable sharing...

Do you use a BSR? How long did it take you to get comfortable with it?

Foot or Hand control or both, depending on what you are quilting?

Yes, this inquiring mind wants to know ?

2 comments:

Jen said...

I just got my Bernina for Christmas, so I'm still new to the BSR, but I really like it. I consider myself an advanced beginner when it comes to machine quilting and I find that it has helped build my confidence so that I can focus on the design more and less on the stitch length or my feet. (That should tell you I use the hand control.) I think once I get good at making the actual designs on the quilts that I may work more on the other aspects, but it works for me.

Jen said...

Well, I don't have a bernina or bsr but I will say that when I free motion quilt at my machine I find that I like to use my start/stop button so that I don't have to worry about keeping my foot on the gas. Then all I have to think about is where my hands are going.